


1 - Chains of Woe

by Kittycorn_4VRMany



Series: To Step on a Butterfly [1]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Bleach, Dragon Age (Video Games), Fairy Tail, Final Fantasy XV, Naruto
Genre: BAMF Dai-nana-han | Team 7 (Naruto), BAMF Haruno Sakura, BAMF Uchiha Sasuke, BAMF Uzumaki Naruto, Bloodline Uzumaki Naruto, Byakugan Uzumaki Naruto, Chakra Chains Uzumaki Naruto, Dark Uzumaki Naruto, Evil Uzumaki Naruto, F/M, King Uchiha Sasuke, M/M, Mokuton Uzumaki Naruto, Overpowered Haruno Sakura, Overpowered Uchiha Sasuke, Overpowered Uzumaki Naruto, Ridiculous Premise, Rinne-sharingan Uzumaki Naruto, Smart Uzumaki Naruto, Wizard Saint Haruno Sakura
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-31
Updated: 2018-10-07
Packaged: 2018-11-07 07:25:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 89,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11054157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kittycorn_4VRMany/pseuds/Kittycorn_4VRMany
Summary: It is believed that, if someone steps on a butterfly that was not meant to die today, a million people will die in the future.Naruto's naivete is that butterfly.





	1. Unbidden, the First.

A single change upset the entire timeline. A simple change that altered the history of events that led to the final sealing of Ootsutsuki Kaguya, and everyone suddenly had a different part to play.

The change wasn’t grand, nor was it very recognizable. In fact, if one were to look back on it, it could also be marked off as more appropriate than what would have been.

Man is a fickle creature. Most are burdened with more negativity than one would like. It is completely believable that, in their hubris, they would simply ignore proof of their wrongdoing even if it were to be dropped on their heads. Pride wars with truth more often than not, and refusal to admit what lay before one’s eyes is more natural, however undesirable, than simple acceptance. Feelings culminate over time and eventually may turn a person into something else entirely.

One must wonder then, how is it that those who preach of forgiveness and enlightenment through acceptance find the means to do so? One would argue back that the hardest thing to do usually grants greater rewards, and if it were so simple, the concept of conflict would die off before it was ever to start.

This further proves the idea that man’s own actions, more often than, not lead to his own undoing. ‘What ifs’ and ‘perhaps’ sometimes plague the minds of the simple man enough to twist it entirely. What if he had not made this mistake? What if he had made another decision?

Some say that a single man is insignificant in the grander scheme of things. But the wise ones know that this is not true. The actions of an individual can often influence the machinations of the world at large in ways we could possibly never predict.

For, you see, a certain Umino Iruka had passed out on the impact of the initial Fuuma shuriken one traitor threw. And instead of a certain blonde coming to his rescue due to heightened emotional connection, the blonde surfaced out of obligation, long since having decided to protect the people of the village he was a native of in spite of his tribulations.

“Even lay a finger further on Iruka sensei, and I’ll kill you!”

Uzumaki Naruto was certainly not a normal boy by any standard. An orphan with not even a most distant relative to care for him, the young boy had grown up wild, completely alien to any concept of familial bonds or love, yet craving it all the same. Despite having the hand of the Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, over his wellbeing, none had reached out to guide him, or even encourage him.

To such an extent, that, barring getting beaten up, there as not much this village had left to show that they hated him. In a sense, his life in the village was what others would perhaps call a ‘personal hell’. Yet, he labored on, eager to one day prove that he was worth their respect. This… did not seem to deter the village in the slightest from hating him, however.

Prior to today, however, he hadn’t known why they acted the way they did. He knew that they’d rather see him die than take another breath, even though he could not recall what he had done to personally deserve such ire. He remembered asking people many times, only to either be ignored or have things thrown at him in return. As far back as he could remember, all he could recall was loneliness and tears. The latter, however, he never let a single person see.

“You? What are you going to do to me, Demon?” Mizuki laughed, not even slightly tensed. To his credit, however, he did not know the threat looming under the surface.

Of course, he knew that somewhere buried deep within the Jinchuuriki in front of him was undiluted hate due to circumstance, which could even perhaps be amplified by now through the presence of the nine-tailed demon fox. His lord, Orochimaru Sama, had commanded him to either eliminate the container, or unearth the rage within. He could see the benefit, either rob the village of their weapon or see their own weapon turned against them entirely, thus making it easier for the man to exact his own revenge. And who better to do that than his second-best spy Mofuko Shiro? Second only to Kabuto, Shiro hailed from the now extinct Mofuko clan of Kirigakure, who had been rescue from the village by his lord. Granted, his lord had hurt him more than any single person had ever done, but he was assured it was all for his benefit. And indeed, where the Mofuko clan was only able to transform their faces once, Shiro had been altered to such an extent that he could take on entirely different forms, be they of person, animal, or even plant. His lord Orochimaru had then dispatched him as a spy into Konoha’s ranks. First, as the ANBU Suzume, then as shopkeeper Figo Akishi, and most recently as the kind but irritable orphan academy teacher, Mizuki. Shiro had been sending reports to his Orochimaru sama for at least two years now, and this was meant to be the final mission, bringing in the scroll.

Naruto, however, was seeing red. There was that word again, ‘Demon’. Why did everyone accuse him of being one? Bar Hokage-jiji and Iruka sensei, everyone either openly hated him or ignored him. Sure, the Kyuubi was sealed in him, but that did not make him the kyuubi himself!

Deep within Naruto’s seal, a small line blurred, the matrix overloading slightly with Naruto’s heightened agitation. Alongside the biggest circle that symbolized the nine-tails, one of the two small circles seemingly melted, being absorbed into Naruto’s skin like water through sponge.

Fine! If that’s what they wanted him to be, if that’s all they saw in him, Naruto would be exactly that! No longer would he try his best to be acknowledged positively, no longer would he be that same old naïve boy! He is Uzumaki Naruto, and suddenly, his entire worldview changed with that simple decision.

He gasped, however, when he felt something whirl past him. In his thought process, he failed to keep an alert eye on ‘Mizuki’. The man was obviously not going to let this chance slip by – both to wipe out witnesses and to enrage the demon-container more. The man has smirked, before unsealing another Fuuma Shuriken, charging it with a spin, and hurling it towards the downed man a few ways behind Naruto.

When the poor boy turned, he gasped, and tears finally brimmed over his eyes and fell to the unforgiving forest floor.

The shuriken had impaled his teacher in the chest, a blade popping out from his back. The man himself seemed shocked, looking down at the weapon with wide eyes, before he fell.

Naruto rushed to the man, catching him just before he hit the ground with a slide, the scroll of seals falling off and dispersing, proving that it was either a transformed pebble or a timed illusion. Shiro’s eyes narrowed, and, unknown to him, so did another set of eyes above them all.

Slit yellow eyes seethed in anger, knowing now that the final component for his specialized jutsu was forever beyond his reach. ‘If he was intuitive enough to leave out a fake scroll, then he will never let it see daylight again.’ The man thought, grinding his teeth in irritation. ‘That darn brat! That old man would never guess I was after it, not after so many years – this boy must have told him!’ When he spotted what was going on beneath him, however, he smirked. ‘Well, at least this trip won’t be entirely wasted.’ He then made a sign with his hands, and focused a brief pulse of energy between Naruto and Iruka.

Down, beneath the canopy of the trees, none of the three men heard a mere whisper of, “Genjutsu: Nise Kaishaku!”. Two of them were too focused on the last. Seemingly dead for one second, Iruka suddenly jerked, gasping for air. He panted deep breaths, and looked at Naruto. “Naruto…”

“Don’t talk, sensei!” Naruto said through sniffles. “I’ll get you to the hospital right away!”

“No…” Iruka said, and Naruto froze. “I don’t want… a demon… to save me….”

“I- Iruka sensei?” Naruto asked, his heart dropping. ‘No….’

“I… always hated… you, Naruto.” The man seemed to say. “You… took my parents… away. I… never loved… you, you… damned demon. I hope you… die.”

The man then collapsed again, eerily into the very same position he was before his sudden bout of wakefulness.

Naruto just stared at the man he had considered his older brother. In more ways than one, Iruka had been what was keeping him grounded to the world, tethered to reality. Naruto had even recently debating whether he had feelings for the older man. Damnit, Iruka was what made him happy!

And now…

All that was a lie.

Iruka… no… Umino was a liar.

Naruto shakily stood. How many had lied to him? Did no one ever like him? Was Hiruzen and the Ichirakus lying to him too? Why? He wasn’t the Kyuubi! What had he done wrong?!

That is when the Nandaime Hokage died before even his ascension, and instead, something much less benevolent stepped forth from the darkest recesses of the mind of a boy – a young boy, a naïve boy, an innocent boy.

A boy who locked away everything he was, and threw the key into the ocean.

“Show me what you got, kyuubi no kitsune!” Shiro snarled, drawing the boy’s attention. ready to phase into a stronger form. He had heard what Iruka had said, and was frankly surprised He always believed that Iruka truly loved the boy, but… well, he turned out to be a good actor.

“I… am not the Kyuubi no Kitsune.” Naruto said, head bowed.

Shiro narrowed his eyes. “What are you-“

“I am the Konohagakure no Akuma.”

Shiro felt something… just  _something_. He decided to dodge-

But he never got that chance, because he suddenly felt something punch him in his chest.

Surprised, and feeling blood fall from his slightly open mouth, he looked down towards his chest to see a glowing orange chain had impaled him. He followed the taut chakra construct towards the palm of the demon brat’s outstretched right hand, when his eyes widened in realization.

“Im…possi…ble…” he said hoarsely, mind clouded with pain, before giving into the blackness.

However, that was not all that Sarutobi Hiruzen witnessed through his crystal ball that gave him chills that night.

“Fuinkusari” Naruto whispered, but his voice carried over the slight breeze around him nonetheless, “Shohi Suru.”

An unearthly male cream rent the air, as the chain embedded in Shiro retracted, dragging along a white silhouette reminiscent of the man’s outline. Then rapidly, the chain retracted, until even the silhouette was sucked into Naruto’s palm.

All was silent for a few seconds, until Naruto abruptly passed out.

Seeing that, Hiruzen shook himself out of his daze and immediately leapt out of the window, intent on bringing Naruto to his office immediately, before the poor boy was killed in blind misinformation by his subordinates. Sometimes, he wished people were different.

 

***

 

Meanwhile, Naruto dreamt.

He dreamt of running, of fleeing home  _home **home**_ because he would die otherwise. He dreamt of finding a twisted angel, who gave him so much pain  _pain **pain**_  that he would rather die than feel that again. But then, after the ordeal was finished, he had so much power  _power **power**_ , that he felt like no one could ever feel safe with him near when he struck ever again.

Then, in an explosion of colors and sounds, he remembered other things.

He remembered learning to walk on walls, on water. He remembered learning to wade through the earth. He remembered raising earth walls, making earth doppelgangers. He remembered feeling as weightless as the very air itself.

But most of all, he remembered changing  _changing **changing**_.

He remembered flying through the sky as a bird, swimming in deep oceans as a whale, racing around as a leopard, hopping around as a bunny, spying on people as a mosquito…

He remembered everything, and only a fleeting thought told him it wasn’t his own memories.

It was Mizuki’s recollection. Or was it Shiro? Yes, most of the memories had the Shiro Marker rather than Mizuki. He Naruto was surprised to find several other names, all jumbled. The original Mizuki, a steadfastly loyal ninja, was probably rolling in his unmarked grave with all the misdeeds this imposter had committed in his name, however secretively.

Besides memories, however, he was also sifting through something else.

It was something akin to two twisting lines, connected by several other lines of their own. Through Shiro’s memories, he learnt this was called deoxyribonucleic acid, a sort of blueprint for the person one is. A particular line, however, piqued his interest. The line was constantly changing, morphing in different colors. This type of line, however, seemed prevalent every thirty or so lines later. Naruto analyzed he line and then reached out with his mind and assimilated it, unknowingly doing something a certain snake sannin would die to do without having to have ever resorted to crude measures as he had.

He copied Mizuki’s abilities and bloodline.

 

***

 

Hiruzen looked upon the boy on his office table with barely concealed anxiousness. Yamanaka Inoichi had informed him that Mizuki’s memories were completely gone – the Shintenshin no Jutsu was completely ineffective. Normally, when used on a dead target, the jutsu showed the most recent memories, however when the jutsu showed no results, it only meant one thing – there  _were_  no memories to show.

This meant that Naruto had awoken the Uzumaki bloodline, the Fuinkusari – otherwise known as sealing chains. This was already evidenced by his blond hair morphing into the natural Uzumaki blood-red before his very eyes. The bloodline was at the heart of the Uzumaki reign and longevity – it allowed the user to absorb the impression of someone’s yin and yang chakra, effectively copying not only their memories and chakra, but also their bloodline and lifeforce as well. However, the sealing technique had a physical impression as well, able to interact with physical objects and, thus, able to be used in real life scenarios to enhance combat and locomotive capability.

Uzumaki Kushina was infamous for their use, using them after they awakened during the kidnapping attempt she was victim of to become a feared kunoichi. Where the Yondaime was hated in Iwa for his decimation of a quarter of the entire Iwagakure and Kumogakure joint forces by himself, Uzumaki Kushina was why they hadn’t retaliated. Already having failed an attempt once at possessing her, Kumo faced another severe blow when Kushina consumed a high ranking Kumo ANBU, and unleashed their own techniques against them with help of the Kyuubi’s initial jinchuuriki state resulting in the loss of half of Kumo’s ninja force, since Iwa had made a hasty retreat.

Hiruzen was interrupted from his thoughts when Naruto suddenly bolted awake and dry heaved, retching on bare air. Hiruzen made to help the boy, but he was held at bay with a raised hand. Naruto coughed badly for another minute or so, before abruptly stopping with a loud burp.

Hiruzen arched an eyebrow, while internally anxious.

Naruto looked at his surroundings, then hopped off the table he was laid on, turning to the Hokage and bowing respectfully. “Hokage-sama.”

Hiruzen sighed. It seemed that Kushina was right, absorbing the memories of someone also resulted in absorbing one’s personality. Wasn’t it the life experiences a person went through that shaped them after all? It seemed Mizuki’s true personality and Naruto’s own meshed together to form this amalgam. “Rise, Naruto-kun.”

Naruto stood, and Hiruzen had to work hard to conceal his grandfatherly tendencies. Naruto’s once blue irises were now blazing orange, and his sclera a pitch black. His pupils seemed to be shining from within with a bright yellow light. “Your eyes….”

Naruto cocked his head to the side and then closed his eyes in concentration, opening them to reveal his old cerulean-blue eyes. Hiruzen frowned. “It seems, gaki, that you have awoken a dojutsu.”

“Not exactly, Hokage sama.” Naruto replied, dipping his head a little in apology to the contradiction. “The Mofuko kekkei genkai leaves its users with these eyes naturally, as the line first began when an ancestor gave birth while in chameleon senin mode. These eyes are simply a reminder of that very fact.”

When the Sandaime gaped, Naruto gave off a frustrated sound and gestured to the Hokage’s tea, urging the man to continue drinking before beginning to explain what he learnt from Shiro’s memories.

 

***

 

When Naruto finally left bearing a black-cloth hitai-ate, with the use of a soundless shushin that left no trace, Hiruzen fell into a meditative thinking state until Inu and Neko emerged from the shadows a few hours later.

“To think that Suzume-sensei was a spy…” Neko began, fists clenched.

“Don’t dishonor him that way.” Inu chastised. “Suzume was an ANBU for longer than seven years, while this imposter only emerged recently. Your mentor is still untainted! I can only imagine the fight he must have put up, being a master in the way of the sword. May he rest in peace.”

“Inu is correct.” Hiruzen said, and the two ANBU agents straightened when they recognized his Hokage voice. “As of now, summon Tora and Hebi. They have an important delivery to make to a certain toad who has been out of his pond for too long.”

Inu almost shuddered but restrained himself. He was just glad he wasn’t going with Hebi on this one.

“As for you, Inu, you may remove your mask.” The Sandaime commanded.

Inu sighed, and smoothly slid his mask off, revealing a half facemask further below that one and an eyepatch covering his left eye. “I know I agreed to be a Jonin for the Uchiha, Hokage sama, but I’ll be damned if you keep me away from Naruto after today an-“

“I was going to suggest he be on your team, Kakashi.” Hiruzen said, setting his chin on his clasped hands. “While Naruto has certainly changed, especially if what we know about the Uzumaki Fuinkusari from Kushina is true, he will still need moral guidance and a gentle hand when it comes to guiding him on using this newfound gift, not to mention putting into practice what he… assimilates. Currently, he has more reason than anyone to leave the village, and you very well know what actions the council will resort to if this comes to pass.”

Kakashi seemed lost for words, and soft chuckles could be heard from behind the cat mask Neko wore. The Sandaime sighed, before standing and walking to the window that gave him a view of Konoha and the Hokage Mountain. How many sacrifices had he made for this village? How much had Naruto suffered to maintain the illusion of peace? Sometimes he wished Danzo and he were back like what they used to be – rivals, but rivals who helped each other. Now, thy were simply enemies. The Professor and the War Hawk… both poised over the village like common thugs over loot. But where Hiruzen wanted to protect his village, Danzo wanted to…

Now was not the time.

“Since his grades have been abysmal, making him the dead last, I do not believe this will be an issue. The Rookie of the Year with the academy dead last… we could add in the Academic of the Year to make it more believable.” Hiruzen continued. “Haruno Sakura, I believe.”

Kakashi’s single visible eye bugged out. “Haruno?! Granddaughter of Haruno Nisha?! She enrolled? I’m surprised her parents let her.”

“I do not know how she pulled it off either, but I won’t look a gift horse in the mouth.” Hiruzen said, a smile tugging on his lips although he fought to stay in serious mode. “Most of the ANBU and Jonin know exactly how much Ichigo hates his mother for dying in the middle of a battle, no matter if anyone else knew her identity or not. I believe being a father softened his heart to his daughter’s ambitions, even if he disliked his mother being the shinobi world’s genjutsu mistress, so much so, that no one but her husband, son, and I knew exactly what her face looked like.”

Kakashi sighed, dropping his head in thought. “We’d be the perfect frontline time if all things pass ideally. Sasuke, once broken out of his current phase, could be a potential taijutsu combat master, especially using his Sharingan to predict and copy. Naruto, having such high reserves and near limitless potential, could be a ninjutsu powerhouse. Sakura, falling into her ancestor’s footsteps, a genjutsu user with no rival, especially so since Haruno Nisha had married into the family from the Kurama Clan. These three together  _could_  just be the next big deal.”

“Which is the reason you need to be careful, Kakashi.” Hiruzen said finally turning away from the window and looking at the copy-nin dead in the eyes. “They have untapped potential, but potential goes both ways. I can’t have you holding back when I’m handing such resources to you on a silver platter.” He then sighed, and retook his seat. “However, they still are children, so be careful to gauge their limits. And act accordingly. While you yourself are an exceptional ninja, you have never before taught children of this age after… that incident. Just be careful.”

Kakashi nodded solemnly, making a promise to himself not to slack off.

“Now then, that is all. Kakashi, prepare for the Team selections in one week. You are only allowed to be late on the first day.” The Hokage said, smirking. Neko let something out that sounded suspiciously like a cough. “I want a rough report on each week’s activities on my desk every Saturday, and I definitely want to be notified if Sasuke or Sakura awaken their bloodline, or Naruto assimilates another ninja. Am I understood?”

“Hai, Hokage-sama.” Kakashi said, tilting his head in acquiesce.

“Good. Dismissed.” Hiruzen said, thoughts drifting to Naruto, and wondering where he was at the moment. He only hoped the personality merge had not corrupted the boy beyond help.

Meanwhile, on top of the head of the Yondaime at the fabled Hokage monument, if one were to look closely, they would see a figure sitting.

Immediately after talking with the Hokage, he had sneaked into a shinobi clothing store and stolen an ensemble. Now garbed in a sleeveless crimson unzipped hoodie over a bare torso, black knee length cargo shorts, and black shinobi sandals, Naruto stared at the orange clothes of his past, folded next to him. His new black cloth Konoha hitai-ate held his jacket in place, being tied though the edge of the seams of the zipper sides, leaving a gap the size of the metal plate.  A black version of his goggles was firmly secured over his eyes.

He had spent hours wandering through the village before that action. He spent hours remembering every interaction he had with those he deemed ‘friendly’, or even ‘civil’. Were they all lying to him? Was he forever destined to be toyed with, lied to, and cheated?

The young boy stood, and sniffed once. He gazed out over the village he once called home, deciding it truly wasn’t worth the effort to reverse his fame entirely and get them to acknowledge him, no. If everyone lied to him, why should he bother?

He wiped his eyes dry. ‘No more.’ He thought, expression morphing from agonized to stony. ‘What I said in the forest was purely heat of the moment, but I meant it. This village has given me nothing but pain, so I will not bother. In fact, I’ll give them pain right back.’

With a throw that seems well rehearsed, he flung the tracksuit and goggles into the air, and sent an exploding tag attached to a kunai straight at it.

There was a soft yet fiery explosion, and he could see burning strips of orange cloth drift down towards the village below.

“My name is Uzumaki Naruto.” Naruto whispered, unshed tears glinting in his unblinking eyes as he stared at the clothes that was once a part of his identity. “And I swear to myself, I will find out the truth, be it as an angel... or a demon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hokage - Fire Shadow, leader of the Hidden Leaf Village.  
> Jinchuuriki - Power of Human Sacrifice, essentially what the hosts of the tailed beasts are called.  
> Kirigakure (No Sato) - Hidden in the Mist (Village).  
> ANBU - ANsatsu Senjutsu Tokushu BUtai - Special Assassination and Tactical Squad.  
> Suzume - Sparrow  
> Kyuubi (no kitsune) - Ninetails (fox).  
> Fuuma Shuriken - Wind Demon Projectile Weapon.  
> Genjutsu: Nise Kaishaku - Illusion Technique: False Interpretation - ORIGINAL JUTSU A Subtle but powerful area-wide genjutsu, it changes the outward perception of the target object to any amount of peoeple within the area.  
> Nanadaime - Seventh  
> Fuinkusari - Sealing Chains.  
> Shohi Suru - Consume.  
> Sannin - Literally, three ninja. This is a fragment of what the Three Great Ninja, as they were named by Hanzo, are called in Japanese.  
> Ninpo: Shintenshin no Jutsu - Ninja Art: Mind Body Switch Technique - A Yamanaka clan technique, this jutsu allows the user to temporarily access the mind of another being. It can be tweaked to read minds, plant thoughts, and control others.  
> Jutsu - Ability.  
> Chakra - The 'fuel' to jutsu, made made combining physical and mental energies in equal ratio.  
> Kunoichi - Female Ninja.  
> Kumo(gakure no Sato) - Cloud (Hidden Village)  
> Iwa(gakure no Sato) - Stone (Hidden Village)  
> Yondaime - Fourth.  
> Kekkei Genkai - Special Abilities usually possessed by clans but also prevalent in single people with unusual chakras, although rarely.  
> Sandaime - Third.  
> Shushin (no jutsu) - Body Flicker Technique - A technique used by Chunin and above ninja that allows them to move at super speeds, almost regarded as teleportation (but it is not) through usage of chakra to vitalize the body against harm and then use a higher concentration of chakra near the soles of the feet for actual movement.  
> Neko - Cat.  
> Inu - Dog.  
> Shinobi - Covert mercenary agent (japanese).  
> Genjutsu - Illusionary skill/technique.  
> Kunai - A shorter dagger like projectile weapon.


	2. Obituary: Possibilities

The very next day after the Shiro debacle, Hokage-sama called him in the office and told him to take a new picture than that of his academy application for his Ninja Genin license. Now, Naruto was by no means prepared for that, believing he was to be failed in the exam. Thus, the kind old man had it taken right at once, to give Naruto as less a hassle as possible.

But a hassle happened anyway.

While Naruto looked over his new license card, the door to the office suddenly burst open.

“Old man!” a young voice exclaimed, and Naruto looked up from the card in interest. A boy, definitely below eight in age, had a determined expression on his face. Dressed in a yellow short-sleeved t-shirt, green cargo shorts, blue sandals and an oversized blue scarf, the spiky-haired brunette yelled “I’ll kill you for your hat!” The boy then drew a wooden practice shuriken, and made to run forward-

Only to trip on his oversized scarf.

Naruto vaguely registered Hiruzen sighing in the background.

“Omago-sama!” a man’s voice yelled, and the figure made to move into the room. This ninja (as evidenced with the black bandana on his head that had the Konoha emblem on metal attached to the front) was dressed in standard black jonin gear without the flak-jacket, and a pair of thin-rimmed oval-lens black sunglasses.

“Blast it! Someone trapped the floor!” the boy yelled standing up. His eyes darted around, before landing on Naruto. “You! You did it, didn’t you?!”

Naruto sighed. While he had nothing against children playing games, he was not going to join in. With a “I’ll be back later, Hokage-sama.”, he stood.

“Hey, I’m talking to you!” the boy said, and geared up for a jump-kick to Naruto’s face, which the boy caught with ease with his left hand. He raised his hand, suspending the boy by his leg.

“You gaki! Let Omago-sama down! Don’t you know he’s the Hokage’s grandon?” the Jounin said, pointing to the Hokage, who had his fingers intertwined under his chin and eyes closed to ignore the happening.

Naruto looked from the old man, to the boy, who was smirking for some reason. Naruto shrugged. “Okay.” And released his grip on the boy’s ankle.

The boy yelped as his head hit the hard floor, with the jounin rushing to his aid and yelling about how ‘any brat got to be a ninja nowadays’. In response, Naruto shushined out of the office.

He did not stay long enough to see the boys flash through the emotions of being impressed, awed, and then determined, but Naruto did have a horrible sense of foreboding for some reason.

Naruto sped to an alley nearby and decided to use the first day of the preparation time given to plan and meditate. But first, he walked to the memorial stone to gaze at Umino’s name, and keep asking the inanimate stone mentally why did he deem it okay to lie. He then walked to the academy, sitting on the swing he had forlornly occupied just the day before, and marveled at how his entire world was turned upside down in the passage of a few hours.

Funny how that happens.

On his way to search an unused training ground for him to occupy, Naruto felt a prickling sensation on the back of his neck, as if he was being watched. He turned around, and almost face-faulted when he saw someone holding up a cloth painted to look like the fence behind them, but the ripples in the cloth and the fingers that were visible holding it up gave them away.

“Is that supposed to fool anyone?” Naruto asked, almost bewildered. How could anyone-

“So you saw through my disguise.” A familiar voice said, and the same brat from before put down the cloth, walking closer while folding it in. “My name is Sarutobi Konohamaru, and I want to learn the technique you used to defeat my grandfather!”

Naruto appraised the boy in front of him with glancing eyes. The boy seemed… familiar somehow, besides the obvious likeness he shared with the old man in his facial features. Maybe…

Instead of answering, Naruto turned and began walking.

“Hey! Answer me when I talk to you, dammit!” Konohamaru yelled, running to settle and walk besides Naruto.

“Why should I teach it to you?” Naruto asked, eyes forward, expression bored. “What reason do I have to hand you a technique of my own creation on a silver platter?”

Konohamaru paused at that, thinking. What can he give this boy to teach him a technique he so desperately wanted? Without defeating the old man…

“I’ll tell you what.” Naruto spoke up, watching the boy’s expressions play out on his face with a critical eye. “Come with me to my training ground. If you answer my questions, I’ll let you learn a technique.”

Konohamaru’s eyes lit up, and he hopped and cheered in childish glee.

After finding a training ground, which a passing chuunin pointed out as going to be assigned for future teams and thus currently unallotted, Naruto gestured for Konohamaru to sit down against a tree.

“Now, I’m going to ask you a few questions. Just answer to the best of your ability.” Naruto droned, and Konohamaru nodded vigorously. “Why did you ‘attack’ the old man this morning?”

Konohamaru looked away at the question and mumbled something unintelligible.

“What was that, brat?”

“Because I want to be recognized!” Konohamaru burst, almost causing Naruto to step back, but now he had better control over himself for that to happen. “Everywhere I go, people respect me and give me leeway, but not because of me, because e of my grandfather! “Omago-sama this, Omago-sama that! They never see me for myself, and only respect me because I am the Sandaime’s grandson!” Konohamaru crossed his arms childishly here. “That’s why I want to defeat the old man, and take his hat! When I’m the Hokage, everyone will respect me for me! They will finally acknowledge my skill!”

Naruto really tried hard. He clenched his fists, shuffled his feet, even looked away, but it proved too much and he eventually broke into wild laughter.

“Hey! What’s you funny?” Konohamaru demanded.

“Oh, that’s just too precious!” Naruto exclaimed, wiping his eyes. He then took a deep breath to calm down, then trained his eyes on Konohamaru, who fidgeted slightly. “Alright, brat, you want to be the Hokage. Are you fit to be one?”

“What?” Knohamaru asked, confused.

Naruto simply shook his head. “The Hokage is the leader of the village, someone why everyone looks up to, true, but being the Hokage does not give you respect – being respected makes you capable of donning the hat!”

Konohamaru froze. He had never really thought of it that way. But then… “But then, how do I get respected first?!”

Naruto smirked, inwardly nodding in approval. “You do that by becoming a capable ninja, of course.”

“How does a ninja come to be ‘capable’?” Konohamaru asked, completely fixed on the subjectat hand.

“Well, there are many facets to that.” Naruto said, rubbing his chin. “A capable ninja is well-versed in the three main ninja arts – taijutsu, genjutsu, and ninjutsu. He or she should also be able to pull off cunning acts, since being sneaky is basically half the part of being an actual ninja. And finally, a ninja knows how to act when, and where.”

“Act?” Konohamaru asked, confused. He knew about knowing jutsu, of course! And he was already cunning. But what is this about acting? “Should he be an actor, like in the theatre?”

“In a sense.” Naruto nodded. “Let me explain with an example. Your grandfather, the Sandaime, is kind to you and laughs a lot, right? Maybe even lets you sit on his lap at home, or plays games with you? Essentially, he’s relaxed and carefree, or at least appears to be, yes?”

Konohamaru nodded.

“Well, I’m sure you have observed him in his office.” Naruto stated more than asked, but Konohamaru nodded anyway. “So, you know how he acts. What have you noticed?”

Knohamaru furrowed his brow in thought. “He acts like a completely different person sometimes. He’s very serious, to-the-point, and only shows any emotion around people he knows, like Asuma-ojisan.”

“Exactly.” Naruto said. But at Konohamaru’s still-confused visage, he sighed. “Alright, another example. If you have noticed any ninja around the village, how do they act?”

“Well,” the boy began, looking to the sky in thought. “When ninjas are on duty, they seem to be more focused, concise, and seldom talk amongst themselves or make jokes. But when they’re off duty… oh!”

“Exactly.” Naruto said, nodding at the look of realization on Konohamaru’s face. “A capable ninja should know when to focus, when to be social, when to crack jokes, and so on. You must gauge the situation, and see whether your actions fit in, or are appropriate.”

Konohamaru looked to the floor dejectedly. “But, I always make jokes, and kinda lord my status around! That means I’m not a capable ninja.”

Naruto smiled softly. “Well, Konohamaru, it is never too late to start.”

“You used my name!” the younger boy exclaimed, looking up.

“That’s because I finally have proof that you are actually capable of being a serious ninja, since you just admitted to your mistake.” Naruto pointed out.

The sitting boy beamed.

“Be certain you are ready though, because on the road to being a good ninja, there are no shortcuts!” When he saw that Konohamaru had understood and nodded, he continued. “Well then, my next question.” Naruto stated, then crossed his hands. “What do you know about ninjutsu?”

“Ninjutsu are awesome!” Konohamaru exclaimed, slipping into excitement. “They are special skills used my ninja to do amazing things!”

“Well, yes.” Naruto agreed reluctantly, mentally sighing. “Do you know how they do it?”

“With the use of chakra, duh.” Konohamaru said. “Chakra is a mixture of physical and spiritual energies, that the ninja molds together in order to perform jutsu. Any jutsu, mostly ninjutsu and genjutsu, use chakra. A ninja must be careful while using any of these arts, since if the required amount of chakra exceeds that which the ninja is capable of molding, then it can be dangerous for the ninja to perform them.” He recited, then blushed at Naruto’s raised eyebrow. “Ebisu sensei gave me a book on it.”

Naruto nodded. “Well, does the book say what having control over chakra can do for you?”

“There was a chapter on that, but I skipped it since it looked boring.” The younger boy admitted sheepishly.

Naruto was about to reprimand him, but shook his head, remembering that two days ago, any talk of theory would see him sleeping in class the next second. “Well, chakra control is extremely important. Without it, even if you have huge reserves, you’ll just waste it all.” He continued, shrugging. “Have you heard anything about this?”

“Well…” Konohamaru trailed, then gulped at Naruto’s expectant look. “Gramps once told me about someone called Senju Tsunade, that she had extremely low reserves, but she learned to control it with amazing perfection.”

“Right.” Naruto said, and if he sounded a little curt, Konohamaru did not call him out on it. “In spite of initially having civilian-level reserves, and technically because of it, Senju Tsunade concentrated heavily on chakra control exercises. This not only gave her amazing control, but also served to expand her reserves. She went on to be a legendary kunoichi, famous for using medical techniques – which are impossible for average ninja to do because of their high-control requirements, but also created her own taijutsu style, which she can use to, say, destroy this entire training field with one punch.”

Konohamaru gaped. “R- really?”

“Quite.” Naruto nodded. “So, why do you think I spoke about chakra control?”

“Because chakra control is important to use your chakra reserves properly and expand them.’ Konohamaru said.

“Right.” The redhead said, then walked to the next nearby tree, and then straight up it. “This is the most basic chakra control exercise, called tree-walking. Normally, it would take an adult starting it a long time to master, but since your coils have only recently begun expanding, your amount of chakra should take half a day at most to master.” Ignoring Konohamaru’s gob smacked expression, Naruto looked at his watch before continuing. “This exercise depends on using chakra as an adhesive on the soles of your feet to stick to the tree. Too much, and the bark explodes outwards due to your feet pulling on more than the tree can handle. Too little, and you don’t stick at all, and slip. Right now, it is 9:30. You have till today evening to get this exercise down. If you start now and get it by today, I’ll teach you a jutsu.”

Konohamaru looked for the longest time at Naruto, then stood, nodded determinedly, and walked to a tree to start his practice.

Naruto dropped down from the trunk of the tree, sat cross legged, and fell into meditation to sort through memories. He tuned out the sounds of Konohamaru’s frustration, the feel of wind through his hair, the ground beneath him – all was ignored in favor of focusing inwards.

Sorting through other’s memories were the most disorienting experience. Which there is the feeling attached that ‘I have lived through this before’, when you witness the memory, you find yourself in an alien recollection. At least the ‘memories’ and ‘jutsu’ were already separate, the way Naruto had absorbed them. He ignored the jutsu for now and focused on the memories. He knew the gist like the locations and people, already, but not the finer points.

Midway through the ordeal, at around 12 in the afternoon, Naruto opened his eyes when he felt a shake on his shoulder. He opened his eyes dazedly and looked upon a smirking Konnonhamaru.

“I did it, Naruto-oyabun!” Konohamaru said, excited, clearly tired and much subdued than before. He then walked to a nearby tree and then straight up it, stopping only on the highest visible branch and then sitting there, panting. “See?”

“Well-done, Konohamaru.” Naruto nodded, smiling lightly. “You should go and get something to eat now, lest you fall from exhaustion.”

Konohamaru jumped down from the branch, and then nodded to Naruto in thanks, which was returned. He then walked in the direction of the village proper, while Naruto himself turned to the empty training field.

“Finally. I thought he’d never leave.” He sighed, then brought his hands in a cross seal. In a muted but large burst of smoke, two hundred kagebunshin formed in the clearing. “Right, you lot know what to do. Get to it.”

Of the two hundred clones, four groups formed. Forty vanished immediately, set on practicing shunshin and substitution until it left not smoke at all, no sound, and incorporating an extremely minor genjutsu on the log itself to increase the delay in which the enemy would realize what happened – this would be a major feat in and of itself, since genjutsu is something Naruto would find the most challenging, considering the size of his reserves. Forty picked up a leaf each, and began to move towards the water to practice levitating the leaf on their head while walking on water, a combination chakra control exercise. Eighty set to mastering the Doton manipulation exercise, all three levels – the branch hardening exercise (which involved charging a thick branch with Doton chakra so that it could not be torn no matter how much one tried), the tissue hardening exercise (the same thing, but with tissue paper), and finally the multiple rock levitation exercise (which involved levitating multiple rocks by charging them with Doton chakra and keeping the rocks afloat by continuously manipulating the Doton chakra within). The final forty set to creating a taijutsu style that revolves around using clones to substitute themselves to take hits and appear behind the opponent.

Naruto himself, instead of returning to meditation (which was the reason he found out about the secret of the kagebunshin in the first place), he set to morphing into different animals. The process of morphing was not as jarring as he would have dreaded. He had an instinctual grasp over his appendages, either from the bloodline itself, or from Shiro’s memories. He morphed into different creatures – a tiger, a frog, a crocodile, a stag, and finally ended in a raven that took to the air and flew, reveling in this newfound sense of freedom.

Meanwhile, in the Hokage tower, a certain old man was gazing at his crystal ball in clear anxiety. The old leader was… concerned, to say the least. He did not know the intricacies of what Mofuko Shiro knew, nor did he have the heart to ask his adoptive grandson. The implications of such memories… and under Orochimaru, no less! The man was infamous for his brutality. What would reliving those emotions do to Naruto? He watched the black-feathered bird fly away with sad eyes, longing to be able to help him but not knowing how.

In the six days between that and the team assignments day, the redhead continued to train. Having sorted through large amounts of knowledge and memories, he set to practicing what jutsus Shiro knew. Bloodlines would come as easy to him as breathing, however, standard jutsus he would have to practice getting familiar with again. Now armed with the knowledge-transfer secret of the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, this was laughably easy. For six days, the boy made two hundred bunshin each day, practicing in any training ground that was empty.

After the first day, he altered the responsibilities of each clone group. The first forty, he set to mastering chakra control. Shiro’s training motto was that despite having a large arsenal of doton jutsus, large reserves of chakra were useless unless one could control it efficiently. This, the Mofuko had learned from a genjutsu user under Orochimaru’s wing, Hakumon no Tayuya. Despite having low genin reserves, her control was so perfectly honed that she had no trouble continuously casting genjutsu for a day straight. Thus, of the forty clones, ten practiced the tree walking exercise with leaf levitation, ten practiced the water walking exercise with leaf levitation, ten did the kunai balancing exercise on top of water, and the remaining were on standby, as those clones who learned something from the training or made any substantial progress were to dispel to give everyone that advantage. The result of this was that, by the end of the weak, Naruto had mastered these exercises, and now was at a beyond-acceptable level of control of his chakra. He recognized, however, that his reserves meant that he’d have to do such exercises (or put his clones on it) at least every few days. Unless he found better exercises, however, he would not improve even if he combined the exercises in a different way – this was a drawback of utilizing the Kage bunshin to further his training. Exploiting the memory transfer ability so many times meant that he could now do them on an instinctual level, negating any challenge further combining the exercises could give him.

The next forty set to practicing the doton ninjutsus that Shiro knew. To Naruto’s intrigue, even his strong doton affinity was transferred over. Ten of the clones practiced the Doton: Dochu Senko, ten practiced the Doton: Keijugan no Jutsu, ten practiced the Doton: Kajugan no Jutsu, and the last ten the Doton: Doryuujoheki. After mastering these in the first day itself due to their simple nature, Naruto used the same team of clones to master the Doton: Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, and the Doton: Iwa Bunshin no Jutsu. Naruto had not mastered them, in the end, but was sure close on utilizing them in combat.

This was the job of eighty of the other clones, finding uses for their jutsus in combat. What use was having a jutsu when you could not do it with subtlety, or even use it for more than one direct application when your life was threatened? The forty clones improved their taijutsu in the first three days it took for him to master the first three techniques, realizing that the capability to fly in combat or the capability to enhance the force of your blows or petrify others changed your arsenal entirely – especially when it came to direct confrontation with taijutsu or simple maneuverability, in combat or out of it. His favorite Doton jutsu, however, would have to be the Doton: Dochu Senko. It just made him feel euphoric, having control underground, knowing that unless he gave away his position, or manage to botch his plans, no one would even think to look for him there, while his Kage and Iwa Bunshin took care of his opponents – especially so with the restraining capability of the Doton: Kage Bunshin and the attack capability of the Iwa bunshin. Essentially, as long as he was above half of his monstrous reserves, he decided to never leave the underground at all during the fight.

However, the euphoria of this exploration was shadowed by the fact that the Naruto collective could not bring forth the chains he had used against Shiro. After numerous failed attempts, he theorized that the bloodline was only activated under extreme emotional stress, something he could not purposely replicate.

The last forty worked on miscellaneous jutsu, like the minor genjutsu, and the Kawarimi. Knowing a jutsu and mastering them were two completely different things – knowing a jutsu gave the ability to cast it at high costs, but mastering the jutsu gave the ability to cast them at low costs and without hand-signs, effectively giving the user a major advantage. Thus, he continued his foray into mastering jutsu even when he got them to work to be able to exploit this advantage in combat.

Meanwhile, the real Naruto sorted through Shiro’s memories and educated Konohamaru. The Sannin Orochimaru seemed like a major threat, and knowing all he did about him only seemed like a possible advantage that he would be stupid to throw away. Additionally, Shiro had almost memorized the latest editions of the bingo books from all the countries, was intimately familiar with doton jutsu theory, and his tactical mind was… significant, to say the least. After first going through the various subterfuge tactics he used, Naruto was extremely thankful to lady luck for being able to take down such a powerful opponent at his old pathetic level, as doing so gave him the catapult forward he did not even know or acknowledge he needed.

Meanwhile, the young Sarutobi clan member seemed to accept any knowledge he had like a sponge – at least at normal ninja levels. Since his reserves were way too small and not well-honed enough for a Kagebunshin, Naruto taught him the Henge and the first level of the Doton manipulation exercise. The boy himself too grew less rambunctious and more serious, despite his initial claim he could make Naruto more excitable. If only he knew…

A side-effect of this entire thing, however, was that his clones seemed to be… developing.

For instance, when he made his way back to the ninja apparel shop to steal more sets of his outfit, and he used to Kage Bunshin no Jutsu specifically to infiltrate the establishment, the clones who sprang forth and transformed into random shinobi he had seen around the village were extremely subdued and silent. Furthermore, they seemed to be the very same clones who practiced the transformation kekkei genkai, since they seemed to further work towards permanent physical alteration.

Naruto did not think too much about his clones taking on individual identities at all. He was more concerned with the brief flashes of black clothes he saw twice in the trees around him whilst he trained. Shiro had no sensor capabilities, so he knew that until he picked up a specialized jutsu, there was no way around keen observation to catch his silent audience. Thus, he resigned himself to wait for them to slip up, since they seemed to be too good to be caught out easily.

He still had a long way to go, however.

 

***

 

A day and a half before the team placements, he was summoned to the Hokage’s office with little fanfare.

Rising from the floor, Naruto bowed to the Hokage, and then offered respectful nods to the others present. With Shiro’s memories, identifying them was a piece of cake.

There were three other individuals in the room, discounting the four ANBU forever stationed on the ceiling, hidden with their own concealment techniques. The four total shinobi were once part of the same team under the Nidaime Hokage, Senju Tobirama; while Hiruzen moved on to be the Hokage, his other three team members – save for one who was killed in action alongside his sensei in a futile effort to aid him against holding off  

Directly behind the Hokage stood Shimura Danzo. He was a capable futon user wh was actuall in contention with Hiruzen for the Sandaime post, once upon a time. Publicly, the man was simply a member of the Konoha Advisory Council, but due to a certain someone Naruto knew that the man was a leader of a vaguely rogue faction of ANBU known as Ne, which was officially disbanded years ago. Rogue, because although the faction followed the best interests of the village they were on the beck and call of Danzo. Shiro knew that the man had civil dealings with Orochimaru, too, but no specifics.

On the left and right of the Hokage sat Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Hamura. Not very noteworthy shinobi besides their connections, but the former knows of dirty laundry and buried skeletons belonging to most figures of note in the Fire Daimyo’s court, and the latter has bedded the wives and daughters of many officials, using their potential disgrace as a bargaining chip to secure power… this combatted his general undesirability due to excessive alcohol consumption. Naruto was not one to make stupid mistakes, however… at least now. He knew that they had to have some cunning buried under those aged exteriors… or else they would not have been able to stand where they were today.

“Hokage-sama. Ikenban-sama.” Naruto greeted.

“Genin Uzumaki.” The Hokage spoke, and Naruto knew at once this was an official meeting. Never once in his life was he referred to by his last name by the man in front of him before. “We of the Konoha Go-Ikenban have gauged the news of your newly awakened Kekkei Genkai with a grain of salt. While some of us see that such a gift should not be abused, others,” and here he threw a subtle glance at Danzo, who had the guts to smirk… Naruto may have liked this person if he did not know of his crimes against humanity, “insist that this should be utilized to its maximum potential.”

“I am willing to serve Konohagakure with my life, if I must.” Naruto intoned. This was, of course, a lie, but Naruto did want to get on the Council’s good side. As far as he knew, they had most administrative power aside from the Hokage, and earning their goodwill or even their established neutrality could simplify his life in several ways. He also knew that Danzo was a slightly twisted Konoha-dedicated shinobi, and he had a … feeling that he should get on his good side.

“As you should.” Koharu nodded. Hamura smiled in a sickly sweet fashion, and Danzo’s smirk grew wider.

“Very well. As to examine your abilities and how well the assimilation process occurs, we have managed to procure a challenging mission for you usually assigned to a team of three chunin headed by a jonin.” Hiruzen spoke, and picked up a scroll to hand over to Naruto, who stepped forward to accept it and then stepped back while unfurling it to read. “However, at your ANBU level, this should be simple… _if_ the DNA integration has been carried out successfully.”

“A gang of insurgents have been spotted around the Katanabi Kinzan in Kawa no Kuni.” Danzo spoke clearly in a lighter baritone. “You are to travel to the scene, investigate, and deal with the miscreants. No further details are known other than the fact that their leader is Kurosuki Raiga, former member of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Shinchinin Shu, and current wielder of the twin swords Kiba. You will be allowed to keep them as payment for this mission. Furthermore, the records of this mission will not be documented in your ninja profile.”

Naruto barely refrained from groaning. Kawa no Kuni was too far to cross twice in the available amount of time on human legs, so he’d have to adopt a form that can traverse terrain naturally faster, and then augment his speed using chakra. Hmm… he had just the form….

Six hours later saw a Peregrine falcon touch down after continuous flight on the outskirts of Katanabi Kinzan. Naruto’s plan was to morph into a forgettable form and ask around for information. However, he hit the jackpot when he caught a rather large flare of chakra towards the north, up the descending incline. It was wrangled, like someone was trying to mute the noise their chakra made but were largely unsuccessful. While Shiro was not an accomplished sensor, he knew the basics, and thus Naruto settled on a tree in what appeared to be a bandit camp. Apparently, the non-ninja bandits were busy preparing for a funeral, which Naruto learned Raiga had a fetish for, and the only two people with noteworthy chakra signatures were sitting along a cliff that fell into the water below. Thus, the falcon prepared itself.

Shiro had learned that surprise was a woefully underestimated element that could contribute to a battle. What did it matter how skilled your opponent was if he or she did not even know you were there to defend against? The ninja had both learned and altered multiple techniques to suit this purpose, and this is what earned him Orochimaru’s serpentine gaze in the first place. He refused the cursed seal mark because it would interfere with his temperament, like Kabuto. This irked Orochimaru the tiniest bit in spite of his usefulness, since the Sannin wanted the skills of someone who could hide completely even from him, someone more than a master at sneaking, but found him too useful to put to waste.

Regardless, harrying about fortunate wastes was not hy he was here after all. And he should focus because his plan can begin anytime-

Now.

The camp burst into chaos as tigers and gigantic snakes burst from the ground and began to pounce on or strangle anyone in their reach. Tens of animals meant that there wasn’t a human left who wasn’t in the process of painfully dying.

“What in the-“ Raiga started, dropping his cup of tea and whirling around.

Naruto struck fast. As soon as Raiga took a step away from the purple-haired blanket-swaddled boy the redhead shunshined behind the boy and, morphing into his base form with claw-like fingers, rammed his right hand straight through the boy’s chest, grabbed his heart, and ripped it out.

Raiga turned to warn Ranmaru about the whoosh of wind he had heard, but Naruto was already moving. With an over-fueled shunshin, he appeared behind the swordsman, and made to stab him through the chest too, only to find his hand cut off.

Backflipping back a good distance while clutching the stump that used to be his wrist, Naruto gazed upon Raiga’s enraged face impassively.

“You Konoha scum! After I bury you, I’ll bury everyone in your damned village!” the Raiton user howled.

Naruto silently watched as the man subconsciously charged chakra to his feet and raced forward.

He missed Naruto’s smirk.

“Die, Konoha dog!” Raiga yelled ramming One half of Kiba straight through Naruto’s skull… only for the boy to form into chakra enforced rock.

Four other Doton Kagebunshin burst from the ground and grabbed onto the surprised man’s limbs. Raiga simply channeled Raiton chakra through the left half of Kiba and yanked it free, however, he was not fast enough.

Naruto was not idle. Knowing that any plans he came up with was a one-shot attempt, since S-rank nukenin were of a caliber enough to learn from the battle instantaneously, the real one had already charged a kunai with Doton chakra and raced towards his target.

The last thing Kurosuki Raiga saw was the business end of a kunai as he was decapitated.

Naruto looked upon the head of his quarry, and pulled out two sealing scrolls to seal his catch in.

 

***

 

“Mission successful, Hokage-sama, Ikenban-sama.”

The Hokage smiled a proud smile as he the redhead in front of him. Danzo was also giving off an air of smugness, although why, Hiruzen did not know. The other two councilors simply remained silent and showed no expression. “Congratulations, Naruto. We will study the mission report and act on our prognosis accordingly. As discussed previously, the Kiba and the bounty on Kurosuki’s head is yours to keep.”

Naruto simply bowed before leaving.

“A member of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Shinchinin Shu…” Utatane trailed. “The ANBU who shadowed him have yet to return, but I doubt that they must have seen much.”

“The boy doesn’t have a scratch on him!” Hamura wailed. “Now I have to greet Danzo with ‘sama’ for three months!”

Danzo simply continued to radiate smugness.

“You _bet on whether or not he would be unscathed?!_ ” Hiruzen hissed.

“Now now, Hiruzen,” Danzo opened his only eye. “we both knew the outcome. Suzume was almost a legend among the ANBU. Did you honestly think Naruto would perform any less?”

Hiruzen simply narrowed his eyes, ignoring Utatane’s faraway look and Hamura’s grumbling. “What is your gameplan, Danzo? What are you after with that boy?”

“Nothing that will bring harm to Konoha, I assure you.” Danzo stood, and hobbled out.

Hiruzen eyed the door with a worried gaze. “It’s not Konoha I’m worried about, at the moment.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Genin - Entry level ninja.  
> Suriken - Throwing star, a projectile weapon.  
> Omago-sama - Honorable Grandson.  
> Jounin - Higher level ninja.  
> Gaki - Brat.  
> Chuunin - Middle level ninja.  
> Taijutsu - Hand to hand fighting technique.  
> Ninjutsu - Ninja techniques.  
> Ojisan - Uncle/old man.  
> Oyabun - Boss.  
> Doton Jutsu - Earth element techniques.  
> Hakumon - North Gate.  
> Kage Bunshin - Shadow Clone - Tangible clones that dispel on being hit, transferring their memories to the user.  
> Doton: Dochu Senko - Earth Style: Subterranean Voyage - Using chakra to convert the earth around the user to a more fluid form, the user is able to traverse the ground as it it were water.  
> Doton: Keijugan no Jutsu - Earth Style: Lightweight Boulder Technique - Uses chakra to emulate the effects of reduction of density on the target, allowing fast movement on basic level usage and flight on master level usage.  
> Doton: Kajugan no Jutsu - Earth Style: Added-weight Rock Technique - Uses chkra to emulate te effects of increase in density on the target, allowing slower but stronger movement on basic level usage and stronger overall strenth on master level usage without speed penalties.  
> Doton: Kage Bunshin no Jutsu - Earth Style: Shadow Clone Technique - Infusing Doton chakra into the shadow clone allows it to be more durable, and when it is supposed to dispel with a hit, it instead allows the weapon or limb of the attacker to sink into itself and the transform into rock whose toughness depends upon the quality of chakra it is imbued with, allowing trapping.  
> Iwa Bunshin no Jutsu - Rock Clone Technique - The most durable clone technique, wherein the doppelganger is made out of rock whose toughness depends on the quality of the user's chakra.


	3. Obituary: Distance

Uzumaki Naruto walked straight up the outer wall of the academy and slipped into his class through an open window, opting to sit on the ceiling in a meditative state to avoid nuisances. He did his best to tune out two banshee-like voices who fought over Uchiha Sasuke, a male voice demanding answers for being called fleabag, a puppy barking, chips being crunched on and someone… snoring? Ah, that must be Nara Shikamaru.

Instead of managing to slip into a meditative state, however, Naruto found himself in a sewer.

Momentarily affronted that his inner mind had chosen this imagery, he strode forward, silently wondering what this meant about himself. He at least was relieved of the fact that the sewer was dry and absent of drip-sounds, if a bit damp. That would have meant that his mind was not only incredibly disorganized, but also almost ADHD afflicted, which would have meant a very… hazardous… ninja career.

He followed along the long tunnel until it seemingly opened into a large chamber with a jail-like set of bars. A red fog was drifting from within and fading into nothingness outside. The bars themselves were gigantic, he was certain that if he were to wrap his arms around them, he wouldn’t even cover quarter of the way around them. He theorized that if something was locked behind this, it had to be the sealed kyuubi no kitsune.

And this was proven, with the red eyes with slit pupils that blinked open, and gazed down on him.

 **“So… you have finally come, my jailor.”** A deep voice sounded, one that reverberated in the semi-darkness.

“I was not even aware of you until a week ago, Kyuubi-sama.” Naruto said, bowing respectfully, then standing ramrod straight and crossing his arms. “You… are the reason I am a broken person.”

Meanwhile, the kyuubi was quite out of it. Not only was the human showing his respect, there seemed to be a strong undercurrent of hatred and anger that ran beneath his tone. **“I know not what you are speaking of.”**

“I will not describe my experiences to you, nor ask for understanding.” Naruto said, clenched fists shaking were they were tucked against him. “Why did you attack Konohagakure no Sato twelve years ago?

The kyuubi let silence hang in the air for almost ten seconds before he laughed uproariously. **“To think that a mere human dares to challenge me! How foolish have you meat-bags gotten over the years?”**

Naruto said nothing, only unfolded his hands, and bowed his head. “You will tell me, Kyuubi-sama.” He raised his head, to show glowing orange irises full of hate staring at the kyuubi no kitsune, before he whirled around to walk away. “I will return when I have enough power to take my answers, whether you are willing or not.”

“Naruto!”

Orange eyes snapped open, momentarily full of anger, glaring at teacher who called his name. His right hand had automatically caught the eraser that was thrown at him to catch his attention. The young Uzumaki blinked his eyes once, twice, and then his blue eyes faded back though the orange, then he pulled back the chakra in his thighs and legs that allowed him to stick to the ceiling, turning through the following fall and landing crouched on his legs soundlessly, his hood falling off his head in the process. He gazed at the man who was at the head of the class, pulling the name Shiranui Genma from Shiro’s memories. He confirmed as such when he spotted the senbon in the teacher’s mouth and the bandana-style leaf hitai-ate he wore. The standard dark blue leaf overclothes and green flak-jacket was on his person, in spite of the near-perpetual cocky smirk he seemed to wear.

“Gomen-nasai, sensei.” He said softly, then made his way to his seat, not throwing back the eraser and ignoring the whispers that had begun in the wake of his fall.

“What happened to Naruto?” Ino whispered to Sakura, who simply shook her head in the negative.

Kiba, Akamaru, and Choji had lax jaws and wide eyes, as they were unable to recognize their friend at all. Who knew having a different ensemble and hair of another color made so much of a difference?

Shino and Sasuke were both regarding the Uzumaki with narrowed eyes, not that anyone could point that out about Shino since his own were hidden with sunglasses.

Shikamaru was too asleep to be of any note, and Hinata had fainted on seeing Naruto’s torso.

Shiranui Genma, a good friend of Iruka in the past, on the other hand, was worried. He had been trying for the entire past week to search for the blonde, but now that he saw what he looked like, he was barely surprised he was unable to find him. Resolving to give the now-redhead his space, the teacher cleared his throat to continue. “As I was saying, Naruto, you are on Team 7 with Uchiha Sauke, and Haruno Sakura. Your Jonin sensei is Hatake Kakashi.”

Naruto did not react beyond a nod to the news. While Hatake Kakashi was infamous throughout the elemental nations for copying a thousand jutsu with his implanted Sharingan, giving him the moniker ‘Sharingan no Kakashi’ after the Uchiha clan massacre, within the village he was known for being late, and reading erotica in public. His known distinguishing features were the face-mask he wore over the lower half of his visage, the shock of white hair that always stood at the same awkward angle, and his favorite orange novel that always adorned his hand. Meeting him would be… interesting.

The young boy was none-too-pleased about his other teammates, however.

Uchiha Sasuke was an arrogant young boy who believed shurikenjutsu and knowing a single katon jutsu was enough to alleviate his status as compared to others. While, notably, his ability was far beyond his other peers as a consequence of grueling training, Naruto had far surpassed him, and was wondering if he should treat the last loyal Uchiha the same way he was treated by him.

Haruno Sakura was possibly a dead-weight in their team. While the girl was undoubtedly book-smart, and had amazing level of chakra control that Naruto could never even hope to achieve easily, she was severely lacking in any actual drive to improve her arsenal or even acknowledge the fact that she needed improvement. Additionally, her behavior was what his old self had liked, which meant it was abysmal to the lowest degree.

He sighed, ignoring what Shiranui-sesnsei continued to say. At the way it was going, his ninja career looked bleak, at best.

He was fated to not disappointed, however, when his soon-to-be sensei popped his head in three hours, fifteen minutes, and a hundred ‘hn’s from Sasuke later.

“Well, what can I say? My first impression is… you guys are boring.”

Sasuke, who was still sitting in the same spot as he was during Iruka sensei’s lecture, sweat-dropped. Sakura, who was sitting right next to him, fell into a dejected mood. Naruto, who was on the ceiling practicing the Doton manipulation exercise, scoffed.

Waiting so exceedingly long for your sensei to show up was bound to do that to you. The young Fuinkusari bearer was not only peeved, he was super annoyed. How could he rely on someone to teach him who was so incredibly late to everything? He hoped that the same behavior did not transfer to missions.

“Meet me on the roof.” Hatake sensei said, and shushined with a swirl of leaves. Naruto quickly followed, in a shushin that left no trace. This left Sasuke and Sakura to gape at the spot, Sakura to slip into thought about Naruto’s capability, and Sasuke to falter. How was he supposed to beat Itachi when he couldn’t even do a simple jutsu like a shushin?

While the two other members of their team took the ten-minute-long stairs, Naruto and Kakashi were having a stare-down.

“What else did you gain from copying a Nukenin’s chakra impression?” the elder of the two asked, orange book in his left hand closed, right still in his pocket.

“A ninja is entitled to his secrets, Hatake sensei.” Naruto said, smirking. He was currently seated on the two stairs in front of the man, leaning back against the sharp edge without any visible discomfort.

“Not amongst his team.” Kakashi chided, eye-smiling. “Don’t give me details, just a basic overview.”

Naruto narrowed his eyes. “Hokage-sama has been lenient with you.”

“Not very much so, but enough so that I am intrigued… intrigued enough to personally teach you a couple of jutsus, perhaps.” The man dangled his bait. If Mizuki/Shiro was anything of a jutsu hog, the trait may have transferred onto Naruto.

And... apparently, it did. “Besides his Mofuko Kekkei Genkai, I also received his Doton affinity and memories… as I’m sure you know. The point of asking my abilities, was it to see whether I was open to sharing?”

“Astute.” Kakashi grumbled.

“Barely as astute as you assume, Hatake sensei.” Naruto smiled. “It is simply common sense.”

Kakashi sighed, then ran a hand through his hair. “Maa maa… well, what jutsus do you know?”

“Now that would be telling, sensei.” Naruto said, smirking mischievously. “After all, if I tell you of my repertoire now, I won’t be able to surprise you during the second genin test.”

Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow. “How much did Shiro know about how the village works, anyway?”

“He was an ANBU, sensei. And he was under the thumb of another leaf nukenin. Of course, he knew a lot more than is healthy for us.” Naruto rolled his eyes.

At this point, the other two members of Team 7 arrived, and took a seat on either side of Naruto, keeping a distance of a couple of decimeters. They both looked back and forth between Naruto and their sensei with more than a little wariness.

“Well, now that we are all here, why don’t we introduce ourselves?” Kakashi said, sitting on the railing behind him.

“Why don’t you go first, sensei?” Sakura said, nervously wringing her hands.

“You do look unreliable.” Sasuke agreed in monotone, which almost caused Sakura’s eyes to bulge out of their sockets, Kakashi to fall over, and Naruto to squawk.

Sasuke never agreed with anyone around him. And if he did…

Kakashi checked out of the corner of his eyes whether the crows nearby were white in color, before sighing. “Well, my name is Hatake Kakashi, jonin of Konohagakure. I have fairly few dislikes, and my likes you are too young to know. My hobbies… well, I have many hobbies. As for my dreams for the future…” he said, trailing off into silence.

A gentle breeze blew through the clearing, and through the hair of three very peeved genin.

‘All he told us was his name, designation and village … which we already know….’ The three genin thought, unknowingly in unison.

“Well, it’s your turn. You first, Naruto.”

“My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen and strong ninjas, and dislike weak, arrogant, and proud people.” The redhead said, shrugging. “My hobbies include training and learning new jutsu. My dream for the future is to be a capable ninja.” He said, with a tone of voice that allowed no argument.

Kakashi nodded, expecting something along the lines. “Next, the pinkette.”

Sakura, gaping at Naruto, now scowled at her sensei, before doing a complete 180 and blushing at nothing in particular, with a smile on her face. “My name is Haruno Sakura. My likes… well, the person I like is…” at this point she gave a very obvious glance at Sasuke, who wasn’t even looking in her direction, and squealed. “I dislike Ino-buta!” she said, with another meaningful glance at Naruto that was more telling than the last. “My dreams for the future…” she said, trailing off into blissful silence after sighing at the lone Uchiha present.

Kakashi sweat-dropped. ‘Girls this age are more interested in boys than jutsu… But her ancestry, surely she should be more serious?’ the man thought, shaking his head, then spoke, “Next, blue and broody.”

Sasuke glared through narrowed eyes. “My name is Uchiha Sasuke.” He said, and a dramatic breeze began to blow across the roof. “I dislike many things, and like only tomatoes. My hobbies are training, and running. My dream for the future… it is more of an ambition… the resurrection of my clan, and to kill a certain man.”

While Sakura was mentally revaluating her image of Sasuke from cool to super-cool, both Naruto and Kakashi simultaneously thought, ‘Uchiha Itachi…’

“Well, now that that’s over, let’s continue.” Kakashi said, mentally praying for sanity while dealing with his team. “You may go home, for now, but tomorrow, meet me at training ground 7 for a survival exercise at 8 in the morning.”

“As survival run?” Sakura asked, incredulously questioning. “But we did enough of that at the academy!”

In response, Kakashi chuckled darkly.

“I see nothing funny in that statement.” Sasuke said, eyes narrowed. Naruto opted to let Kakashi finish his tirade than to rain on it.

“Well, no, but you see…” he started, chuckling again before continuing. “What we will actually be doing tomorrow is an exam! Out of the twenty-seven graduates of the academy, only nine will be actual genin on passing a test set forth by their Jonin sensei. In short, the probability of you becoming a genin is actually around 33.3 percent!”

Naruto remained silent, but Sakura took on a mask of outrage, while Sasuke seemed disbelieving.

“But, then what was the point of the academy graduation exam?!” Sakura demanded, standing in shock.

“Ah that, that was simply a way to root out the completely hopeless cases, so that we wouldn’t have to deal with cannon fodder.” Kakashi said, secretly amused. He was a little let down that Naruto already knew this from before, but ignored that in favor of reveling in the reactions of the other two.

After a few seconds of silence, he continued. “Well, if there’s nothing else, farewell.” Then he stood and turned towards the railing, one leg already rising to jump off. “Oh, and I suggest you don’t eat breakfast – you will end up puking.” Then, he vanished.

Naruto stood up in the ensuing silence, and sighed. Maybe… well, throwing them a bone might work in hs favor down the road?

“I hope you two paid attention to sensei’s words.” Naruto drawled. “He _suggested_ it. Arriving on empty stomach will only see you easily lost to frustration and, furthermore, weak. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, doubly so for shinobi. Do not skip it.”

Sasuke seemed to accept his recommendation. Perhaps his older brother and father – both ninja of high caliber – had mentioned something along the same lines? No matter how much the raven-haired emo hated his brother, his advice would lead him to success only, in his footsteps; surely he could see that?

“W- we know that, Naruto-baka!” Sakura indignantly said. “As if we would ever skip breakfast!”

“Of course you wouldn’t, it’s probably the only meal you eat.” Naruto scoffed, then sneered. “Change that soon Haruno, or you might see yourself dying of excessive exhaustion or malnutrition.”

Sakura stood and huffed. “I don’t need to take advice from you!”

The lone redhead simply shrugged and rolled his eyes. “Whatever, banshee.” He muttered, and turned. What surprised them both was that he seemed to morph into a bird mid-stride – an eagle, if they were any judge – and flew away.

Sasuke’s eyes widened. Naruto just… morphed? He had a kekkei-genkai? He showed no evidence of this before! Why would he be the dead-last if he had one? Bloodlines were usually a sign – no, scratch that, it definitely _was_ a sign – that the owner was a clan member. But this meant…

…

He had to fight Naruto. If the boy could hide his skills for so long… what else could he be hiding?

 

***

 

Naruto arrived at the same spot next day at 10 in the morning, having woken up earlier and having a filling breakfast at 7 in order to give time for it to digest.

“You’re late!” Sakura immediately said, pointing her finger accusingly at Naruto. Sasuke was leaning against the tree with his arms crossed, but you could tell he felt betrayed by Naruto’s action of leaving him alone with the girl.

Naruto noted this subtly, the turned to Sakura. “You… are annoying.”

Sasuke was about ready to demand who this imposter was in Naruto’s body. Everyone in the academy knew that the boy was borderline obsessed with asking the girl out on a date, yet now…

“W-what?” Sakura whispered, astonished beyond measure.

Naruto shook his head and raised his hand, showing her his fingers as he counted, “One, you make Sasuke uncomfortable with your actions. This may have been alright in the academy, but is no longer acceptable when he is an active member of your team. Two, despite being theoretically smart, you apply yourself in zero other ways, wasting the potential you have with your control. The only thing you possess that we do not is academic knowledge, an even that was only provide in the academy because I did not show my true potential. Three, you treat everyone like a long-lost friend, with no semblance of respect of personal space. This is not the way one behaves with strangers, or even acquaintances. Reserve that behavior for your friends… if you have any. I seriously doubt that you do, going by the points I have just listed. In short, you’re a waste of space, at least for me. Remain like this and the shinobi way of life may either see you dead or so low on the ninja ladder tht you’ll be a Genin forever.”

The other two were stunned into silence by this… stunned enough to not say a single word as Naruto stared at Sakura like she was a worthless object.

“Why did you become a ninja anyway?” Naruto continued, ignoring Sakura’s wet eyes. “Was it because your ‘precious Sasuke’ became one? Stop hindering yourself. Even some of the weakest in our class could get your scores if they really tried. But you… you saw that the written test was fifty percent of the total grade and simply aced that throughout your stint at the academy. How will you ever be a good ninja if you do not _try_?”   

Sasuke nodded with approval from his position under a nearby tree. He knew that even though his mother – Kami bless her soul – was not an official ninja, the sheer effort she’d put into it being the one promised to be the wife of the head of the Uchiha clan meant that she could probably be a Jounin if she enrolled and took a placement test by the time she was fifteen. People often spoke of Ita- … that man… - as following in her footsteps even though they knew he’d gone far above even that.

Sakura took in even that and finally let a couple of tears fall, before she turned away and began staring at a tree.

Naruto huffed but said nothing as he sat down in a lotus position and tried to feel the earth all around him by trickling the least possible amount of chakra that then rippled out in waves, and with his ANBU level chakra control and beyond Kage level reserves, this took almost less than a percent of a percent of chakra. Supposedly, this was supposed to make using dt After a while, Sakura turned around and began to stare at him, which the redhead ignored until their sensei arrived.

‘Maa maa, things sure are tense over here.’ Kakashi thought, then eye smiled and waved. “Good morning!”

“Good morning, Hatake-sensei.” Naruto greeted, inclining his head. Sasuke grunted noncommittally, while Sakura still had her eyes trained on Naruto as if he had kicked her puppy.

Her attention shifted to her sensei when he withdrew a standard timer from his pocket and set it on the middle one of three training stumps nearby, then spoke. “The timer is set to ring at 1300 hours. Your objective is to retrieve these bells,” he said, gesturing to two bells tied to his belt, “before that point in time.”

“But… there are only two bells…” Sakura said, tone dejected.

Kakashi internally frowned in concern but kept up his eye-smile. “Sharp eyes, Sakura! Yes, there are only two bells, because only two of the three of you will become genin, if at all. The last one will return back to the academy.”

Naruto’s eyes instantly trained on Kakashi. All genin teams in Konoha were comprised of three genin and one jonin. Unless they would go through the hassle of switching people around again, which would be troublesome, Kakashi was lying. But why…

Oh! His personalized genin test was doomed to fail. This was a test to see if, in spite of the circumstances showing that one of the team would fail, the three of them could work together to achieve their incredibly difficult objective – a combined test of integrity, loyalty, and teamwork. Sasuke disliked him, and his behavior towards Sakura was intolerant at best. Sakura found him annoying, and possibly mean after their recent conversation, but adored Sasuke too much to be a contributing partner. And Naruto disliked them both. Couldn’t Kakashi see that?

“Well, your time starts… now!” the jonin yelled, and Sasuke and Sakura immediately took to the trees.

Kakashi didn’t react when Naruto did not immediately vanish. Unlike his other genin, Naruto probably already had a pretty good idea of Kakashi’s capabilities, and perhaps already had planned for his defeat. He was proven right when Naruto withdrew a smoke bomb from his items pouch strapped around his waist that faced his back, and threw it on the ground.

Kakashi waited, but was surprised when he heard coughing from the cloud. The smoke dissipated to now a clearly uncomfortable Naruto, who was grumbling about using old tools. Kakashi thought that he tried using an expired smoke bomb that instead lead to a heavy coughing fit, leaving him unable to actually take advantage of the opportunity.

His musings dashed out of his mind however, when Naruto suddenly shushined behind him and engaged in a taijutsu match.

Kakashi, while commending his student for using the Kage Bunshin no jutsu in such an unpredictable manner, with clones almost dancing in tandem with the original in a clearly choreographed yet disorganized flurry of punches, kicks, and uppercuts, was incredibly frustrated that he could not show his students how cool he was by fighting one of them while reading his book.

In his irritation, he accidentally slipped on his restraint and ended up punching straight through the original Naruto.

His horror quickly turned into confusion when the ‘original’ turned into pure earth, and held onto his right hand securely. His confusion was cleared, however, when two Naruto Kage bunshin burst from the ground.

‘I see!’ the Jonin thought. ‘So, he only pretended the bomb was defective, while he actually left a Doton Kagebunshin on the surface and sunk into the ground himself using the Dochu Senko. When the clone trapped me, he sprung forth with another clone! But which is the original?’

While he made to fight with his free hand, however, the clones simply tackled his and phased into earth themselves, effectively neutralizing his use of hands.

Just when Kakashi could not be surprised further at the planning involved, he heard the whistle something made while flying through the air, and looked up to see a single Naruto, perhaps the original, fly at him from the top of the nearby cliff, twin swords in hand that shared eerie resemblances with the Kiba

‘How did he… don’t tell me he reached the top of the cliff while underground and jumped at me from there?’ Kakashi thought, channeling chakra into his hands in preparation of using Raikiri with both to free himself. ‘This was an elaborate plan, but what if I am not here in the first place?’

Before he could free himself however, Naruto reached him and hit his chest with his right foot. Immediately, Kakashi felt like he was being crushed, and fell to the earth under tremendous weight, even the earth clone restraints breaking from supporting a substantially heavy weight.

‘This… the Chokajugan? This gaki…’

Naruto did not even feel winded. Severe practice in this department had left him this plan that he could resort to, and several ounces of chakra to utilize. When he raised his hands to deal a blow, however, the man suddenly stood up, looking completely unaffected.

Naruto immediately jumped back. ‘How did he… oh. Wait. He knows a thousand jutsu. Of course, he knew the counter, the Keijugan. But now what… do I have to use _that_ idea?’

Kakashi eye-smiled. “Did you honestly think that was enough, Naruto?” he said, while internally commending Naruto’s scheme.

“That was simply a means to see how strong you were against Doton, Hatake sensei.” Naruto bluffed, deciding he had no choice since he did not want to return to the academy. He might just be forced to become a nukenin himself then, something he believed he was not ready for. Gritting his teeth, he raised hand in a familiar cross seal. “The real battle begins now.”

Kakashi looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

“Uzumaki Hijutsu – Tajyuu Kemono Gazo.”

 

***

 

Sakura Haruno watched the battle unfolding in front of her eyes with a surprised expression.

When Naruto had first talked down to her yesterday, she’d been humbled. When sensei had told her not to eat, she had immediately decided that it fell in plan with her diet to woo Sasuke, and had decided to follow his advice. But then Naruto spoke…

And brought common sense to the front of her mind.

It wasn’t that she didn’t try to excel in the shinobi arts, but she always felt incredibly tired and fatigued when she so much as tried. Her mother had tried to curb her dieting tendencies, saying that t her age, it would do more harm than good, but she wouldn’t listen… and somewhere deep down she knew the price would eventually be too high. In the forefront of her mind, however, Sasuke’s attentions were well worth the loss. Who in their right mind ignored beautiful, thin girls?

Now though? It mattered.

Naruto’s speech five minutes ago had inspired her. Why had she become a kunoichi anyway?

As soon as the smoke cleared, she found her answer.

In front of Kakashi stood hulking monsters and animals of all shapes and sizes. She barely restrained herself from gasping when he recognized most of them from books in the library about fauna indigenous to Hi no Kuni.

All of them belonged to the Forest of Death, officially known as Training Ground 44. When had Naruto ventured in there?

The animals all charged with impossible speeds, such so that Sakura was seeing only blurs. Her sensei was a blur as well, dull blue streaking across the battlefield.

Her answer was simple.

The Ninja Academy hadn’t been her first stop out of home.

Sakura had first enrolled in the Konoha Civilian School first. In fact, her entire desire to be a ninja stemmed from there. Her nindo… she had decided it long ago.

And now, seeing her teammate, someone of her own age, go up against someone who was leagues above his own standing with something that was either bravery or foolishness… but he did it without fear. This was what spurned Sakura into remembering… her nindo… to never be weak again.

Haruno Sakura was never going to be weak in front of anyone again, no matter what it took.

 

***

 

‘I didn’t think his control was this refined.’ Kakashi mused as he dodged another gigantic elephant, and leapt over a mutant frog with fifteen eyes and two tusks, nailing both with a Goukyaku no Jutsu to vanish them. ‘Not many left now… I’ll power through this in one move.’

Kakashi then prepared to gather raiton chakra, and the original Naruto smirked as the lightning began arcing up his hand. He unsealed the Kiba from his wrists again and let his chakra flow. When his chakra connected with the twin blades’, he felt his control over lightning snap into place.

‘Time to test this.’ He mused, and swung the Kiba in a wide arc.

Kakashi, who had only just finished preparing his sign-less Raikiri, stumbled as the chakra of the jutsu was literally pulled from his hand and towards the sole other human in the clearing.

‘That… it can’t be! That’s the real Kiba?!’ Kakashi started, single eye wide! ‘He beat a member of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Shinchinin Shu? Wait… if he did that… why is he not getting serious? Is this… is this…?’

“What are you up to, Naruto?” Kakashi asked, pausing and straightening.

Naruto correctly guessed his sensei’s thought process and scoffed. “A show, mostly.” He admitted. “How else am I supposed to get the stick-up-his-butt Uchiha and banshee-Haruno to co-operate? Besides, as you said, sensei,” he smirked, dispersing his jutsu and forming Doton Kagebunshin around Kakashi in a circle, “there are no secrets in a team.” Then, he charged.

‘Why use a tactic that already failed once?’ Kakashi internally disapproved, while casually deflecting all of Naruto’s attacks. When he made to punch him, however, he noticed a slight shimmer in the air, before his hand was suddenly covered by another Doton Kagebunshin in earth form. His eyes widened, then shifted to his other side where another Naruto was coming in from. He quickly used a Raikiri to break free and made to attack, but found himself covered in another Doton Kage Bunshin. He freed himself again, and this continued for another seven times.

‘Why is he repeating this?’ the eldest sighed, even while deflecting strikes from the last clone. ‘I only have twenty-five Raikiri’s at my current chakra capacity, and I have already used nine. Is he trying to tire me out? At my speed level, that’s useless, although he manages to surprise me every time… I think Hokage-sama did not elaborate enough on absorbing physical traits from his victim, since Naruto seems faster than even the average Chunin.’

When he dispelled and then broke through the trap again, the ‘original’ Naruto smirked, and then… dispelled…

“Another clone?!” Kakashi yelled, incredibly exasperated. When, even after five minutes nothing happened, he sighed, and then shushined towards the trees where he saw Sasuke and Sakura disperse.

 

***

 

Spotting Sakura below him, Kakashi neared her cautiously, but then let down his guard when he saw that she was anxiously searching the open area of the training ground for him. Shaking his head, he crept behind her and cleared his throat.

To her credit, immediately after squealing, she tried to punch him, but he quickly used his Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu on her. However, the illusion seemed to have no effect, and Kakashi’s visible eye narrowed. He chanced it and gave her a light kick, only to slip through it like a mirage, proving it to be a standard academy bunshin. The copy-nin sighed, and turned to look for his student elsewhere.

Meanwhile, Naruto was deep underground, processing information from all his assorted clones. It seems he was right, that at his current level, it would be impossible to defeat Kakashi, especially so when both were holding back. He surfaced, and began to make way towards the timer to wait for the end, only to come face to face with Uchiha Sasuke.

“You… are strong. Fight me.” The Uchiha said, kunai in hand and dropping into combat stance.

Naruto, instead of moving, discretely made a Doton Kagebunshin ten paces behind Sasuke. “Why should I?”

The Uchiha cocked his head to convey confusion.

The answer, however, came from behind him. “Why should I waste time on a worthless piece of trash like you?”

Sasuke whirled around, intent on running his kunai through the clone, but instead saw around fifty clones, all either hovering in the air or poking out from the ground.

“My hatred dwarfs yours, Sasuke.” The real Naruto spoke from behind him, and he turned around to level a glare at him. “As such, the only path for you is that of… love and acceptance.” Naruto spat the last three words out as if they were poison, and smirked at the expression on the Uchiha prodigy’s face. “Well, love does tend to cause us to do unheard of things, and acceptance keeps confidence high, so it is a worthy enough path… although for you, it might be a tad difficult to walk it given the requirement of actually showing emotion in the first place.”

“What happened to you?” The Uchiha asked, eyes almost wide. Almost.

“Tell me, Sasuke, did you ever ask for the adoration of the village? Did you ever ask for being treated like royalty? How did it feel to have a family once? To have a father, who was stern but cared, to have a doting mother, to have a guardian brother?”

At that, the Uchiha’s face turned almost red in rage, but the next words out of Naruto’s mouth changed his world forever.

“I never had any of that. While you stew in the village’s love, I grew up shrouded in their ignorant hate. No one ever looked at me, all they saw was the kyuubi.” Naruto walked forward, towards Sasuke, coming to stand on his side, facing the opposite direction as he did.

The young Uchiha was still reeling. ‘The village saw him as the kyuubi… but… wait! That means-‘

“I hate Kyuubi-sama, for being the reason my life was and is utter crap.” The redhead said frankly, eyes resolutely facing forward. “I hate the Yondaime, for sealing the beast in me in the first place. I hate the Sandaime for letting me grow like this, for even letting the fact out that I was a container. I hate the village for treating me the way they did.” Then, he turned orange eyes towards the Uchiha, who was looking at him in astonishment. “But I hate you the most, for having whatever I want, and simply throwing it away.”

Sasuke leapt away forming hand-signs for the Katon: Goukyaku no Jutsu rapidly and shooting out a gigantic fireball from his mouth. “You don’t know my pain! You can’t understand what I’ve been through!”

Naruto Calmly leapt over the slow projectile and faced the boy again.

“How can you understand, when you’ve never even had anyone… in... the first place…” Sasuke slowly trailed off, having a momentary spark of clarity, and seeing the stupidity in his words. Sure, when someone has something and it is taken away from them, it is much more painful than if someone never had that thing at all. But what about a person who desperately wanted something, could see others having it, cried out for it, but did not receive it anyway, a person who was ignored entirely? Was that person’s pain not worse?

Naruto gauged Sasuke’s face for something, and then turned, leaving contemplating boy to his thoughts.

When he reached the three waist-high stumps, it was to find Kakashi leaning against one, reading his book, and Sakura tied against one of the stumps, unconscious. Chuckling, he walked right up to the man and leaned against the other side of the trunk. “I hope you weren’t too hard on her.”

“I hit her with a C-rank genjutsu.” Kakashi admitted, making Naruto shake his head. “However, finding her was harder than what one would think…”

“Subterfuge, hm? It seems like our team is shaping up to be something other than a frontline fighting team, Hatake-sensei.”

“Maa maa, Naruto-kun, are you disappointed? You are more geared towards frontline fighting after all.”

“Not really.” Naruto said, leaning his head back further until it met the Jonin’s back. “Shiro knew several other Earth style Jutsus, like the Doryuuheki, the Doryuudan, even a new jutsu called the Doryuu no Jishin. I smply chose not to learn them because I wanted to be gearing towards an assassin rather than a frontline fighter.”

Kakashi stayed silent for a few moments, before speaking in a tone that conveyed his serious mood. “What are you up to, Naruto-kun? What is you real goal?”

“Now Kakashi,” Naruto said, smirking. He knew his bluff had fallen short, and that the jonin knew he would end up learning those jutsus anyway. He could also see Sasuke’s form approaching. “That would be telling.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shurikenjutsu - Throwing Star Technique.  
> Katon - Fire element.  
> Nukenin - Missing ninja - A ninja who has abandoned his village and doesn't wish to return.  
> Buta - Pig.  
> Raikiri - Lightning Cutter - A lightning element jutsu that is based off internal chakra manipulation. High concentration of lightning chakra at the end of a limb allows the user to cut through almost anything.  
> Chokajugan - Ultra heavyweight boulder - Essentilly a more intensive version of the Kajugan no jutsu.  
> Chunin - Mid level ninja.  
> Magen: Narakumi no justu - Demonic Illusion: Death Mirage Jutsu - An llusionary technique that shows the target their worst fear.  
> Katon: Gouyaku no Jutsu - Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu - A basic katon jutsu that results in a huge fireball from the mouth of the user.  
> Doryuukehi - Earth Wall - A mainly defensive earth element jutsu that raises a wall in front of the user from the ground.  
> Doryuudan - Earth Dragon Bullet - A long-range earth elemental jutsu that raises a dragon from the mud source that spits out mud balls at high velocities at a target.  
> Doryuu no Jishin - Earth Dragon's Earthquake - ORIGINAL JUTSU An offensive earth elemental jutsu that creates an earthquake of varying magnitude depending on the user's chakra quality when the user slams his foot into the ground.


	4. Obituary: Flow

“Hokage-sama, if it is not to bothersome, I would like to say something.”

Currently, Team 7 was in the Missions office. It just so happened to be one of the random days when the Hokage would join in, making the current tribulation all the stranger. The desk also seated Shiranui Genma, the newly minted genins’ old-new sensei. Since the academy had been let out for a month break after the year ended, he was allowed a well-deserved vacation – instead, he chose one of the next arduous jobs, that of the mission-monger, and could not leave until the three-month contract was up.

“Speak freely, Naruto-kun.” Said the Hokage, fingers intertwined and laid on the table. To him, it seemed that whenever he met Naruto, the boy had changed. First it was his mannerisms, growing steadily more composed and coldly biting when peeved. Then, it was his repertoire. The Hokage just _knew_ that someone was aiding him, but someone had broken into his private office and broken his crystal ball. That thing had been hand crafted by Uzumaki Mito using several clan seals... it was literally the only one in existence, and she hadn’t made any record of the process of its creation, only its use, meaning it was lost forever.

He wasn’t the only one who had changed, however. Naruto’s determination to learn had apparently broken Kakashi out of his lazy streak, motivating the Jonin to raise his skillset up to his old rank, and convincing him to teach the team more as well. Of course, this meant that the two genin besides Naruto were almost perpetually exhausted, but the results were well worth it. Along with the standard tree walking, water walking, and speed enhancement routines, each team member had additionally matured differently.

Uchiha Sasuke was on his way to an entire 180 from his previous self. Anyone who knew him now would never believe that he was severely anti-social a month ago, but would sometimes see him instinctively try to slip into a reserved state, only to force his way out of it. The boy had finally opened up, even approaching Konoha General to see a psychologist. They were in luck, especially so since they found a genjutsu-implanted subliminal message that raised his anger and ego to irrational levels, and also caused him to ignore some parts of that fateful night he was faced with tragedy. When it was finally off (thanks to the efforts of a certain toad-sage seal master), he was more like the pre-massacre version of himself – a child full of curiosity and good-natured determination, however, tempered with the heavy weight of tragedy. The boy had at least reached out to Sakura, who only seemed happy to finally receive attention from her long-time crush; in a fit of uncharacteristic maturity, she realized he would not magically turn into her friend, and so did not push him and gave him his space. He didn’t change in some ways, preferring silence over boisterous displays of friendship. His infrequent attempts to make count Naruto as a friend, however, was constantly met with clever redirection. He still wanted to find Itachi, if only to ask answers as to why he slaughtered his clan, and wanted to prove himself as a ninja. Flourishing under Kakashi’s tutelage, he learned two new Katon jutsus (Enbunshin, and Goryuuka) and the shushin.

Sakura too, had developed. She had taken to genjutsu like a fish to water, almost at the terrifying speed of learning that Naruto seemed to have. It was simple with her, however – a thorough lecture or book on the subject, and three demonstrations later she could grasp the concept easily. Finding a teacher in Yuuhi Kurenai, who she had done extensive research on (with at least what was publicly available and asking around the village itself), the pinkette was well on her way to mastering the field. She learned four new genjutsus (Genjutsu: Oinaru Sakura, Mugen: Kokoni Arazu no Jutsu, Mugen: Jubaku Satsu no Jutsu, and Genjutsu: Kokuangyo) besides the Mugen: Narakumi no Jutsu. She seemed as erratic as ever in behavior from the outside, but now at least seemed to understand when to say what. She also lengthened her hair with ninja supplements (*cough* help from Kurenai *cough*) to her waist, still using her hitai-ate as a hairband. Her attire had changed as well – she now wore a brighter pink color sleeveless dress, with a pair of shinobi sandals in the same shade. Clean bandages covered her shins and elbows, and her hands were garbed in fingerless gloves of the same shade.

“You are an idiot.” Naruto said, arms folding.

His Jonin-sensei let out an insufferable sigh. Sakura face-faulted and Sasuke facepalmed.

“Naruto!” admonished his pink-haired teammate rather loudly, “Do not address the Hokage that way!”

“Have some respect for the Hokage, koneko.” Kakashi said under his breath.

Both Hiruzen and Naruto ignored them as the latter continued. “While I understand that there is a lack of reliable manpower for missions, you have been going about this all wrong. D Rank missions are handed out to new genin teams to improve teamwork, but the actual effectivity is next to 0, and the money earned is laughable. Why not delegate these missions to academy students set in random mock team formations as a separate module entirely? Not only do they learn to work with each other, but they also work for no cost. The missions are easy enough for them to handle even with no jutsu. Over the vacations, it can be assigned as a holiday assignment to complete at least ten over the span of two months. This will free up your manpower for higher ranked missions, while increasing your village coffers, since you’re not paying them at all. Since they gain experience and the record will later be added to their ninja profile, it’s a solution where everyone benefits.”

Silence reigned in the office. The two other chunin who were on mission-monger duty looked at the redhaired kid who just spoke with wide eyes, since he had made a perfectly logical argument.

Hiruzen himself seemed shocked, while Kakashi simply shook his head, unbelieving that no-one ever thought of this before. But then again, he had come to expect the extraordinary out of his favorite pupil. The boy had learned an astounding number of eleven new Doton jutsus (Doryuu no Jishin, Doryuuheki, Tajyuu Doryuuheki, Sando, Kengan, Chidokaku, Daichidokaku, Iwahogo, Doryuujoheki,  Tsuchi no Kosoku, and Doryuudan) and created two more (Iwakami no Unarigoe (Rock God’s Growl), Go Iwa-aki (Great Rockfall)) and had mastered the chakra control exercises of his primary wind affinity, but was unable to learn or create any purely wind jutsus until now. When Kakashi had given him two scrolls with an extremely advanced jonin-level chakra control exercise each, the boy had not slept for a week straight until he mastered them, only to fall asleep for two days straight later. And indeed, the Multiple-needle Suspension and Air-Propulsion exercises had increased his control so much, that the boy was no longer winded even after a day’s straight of Keijugan self-levitation. It was then that Naruto realized that the jutsu was a type of control exercise itself that also slowly increased his reserves, and kept it activated in most non-stress situations. He also applied the bloodline ability of the Mofuko clan in several situations. The young Uzumaki was certainly coming along as a ninjutsu expert, if these past two months were any indication. His imagination was certainly to be commended, and even more so his determination… although, that could be attributed to his chakra reserves. Shinobi with his level of chakra control and low-genin level reserves could continuously fire B-Rank jutsus for an hour straight. Factor in his monstrous Uzumaki-level potent chakra reserve size, and you have a true nightmare on your hands! Kakashi could only shiver in anticipation of the day when Naruto learnt to draw on Kyuubi’s power. Already, at any given point in time, he could create nine hundred Doton kagebunshin simultaneously and maintain them for an upwards of five hours…

“That… is an interesting idea, Naruto-kun.” Hiruzen said, knocking Kakashi out of his reverie. “I’m not certain we can implement it as soon as one would like, but be rest assured the council will examine it closely. In response… how about we give you your first C-Rank mission?”

“I cannot be the judge of that, Hokage-sama.” Naruto said, stepping back fluidly, mentally gritting his teeth as the Kyuubi chuckled. “Sensei, are we ready?”

Kakashi chuckled good-naturedly. “Naruto-kun, at this point I believe we can tackle a C-rank with ease.”

“But- but- they’re fresh out of the academy!” a random chuunin protested. “Every Genin team has to tackle at least a fifty D-rank missions before attempting a C-rank anyway!”

Team 7 looked at him with barely concealed glee. Even Naruto and Hiruzen were smirking. “Naruto, why don’t you show Shinken-kun exactly how this does not matter?”

“Hai, Hokage-sama.” Naruto nodded, and brought his hands in his now signature cross seal, creating four Doton Kagebunshin, who then morphed into exact replicas of Team 7. “Shinken-san, as everyone knows at this point, my bloodline ability allows me to transform into any living creature. Using this in conjunction with my ability to spam a multitude of kagebunshin, at any given point in time, you can assume that there are at least four ‘Team 7’s out and about, completing missions far away from each other. Not only does it enhance our Team’s reputation in the eyes of others, but also increases our mission count substantially, since I’m an official part of Team 7.”

Shinken was gaping, especially so since it made sense.

Naruto continued. “Now, Shinken-san, consider this – it has been two months since our official establishment as Team 7. That means eight weeks. If you minus a week a day as a holiday, you have forty-two days. Forty-two times four is…”

“A hundred and sixty-eight…” the chuunin whispered. “That’s insane…”

“Ah, but you see, that’s not all.” Kakashi chimed in, snapping his book closed and accepting the scroll for the C-rank mission that the Hokage held out, who was smiling in pride. “He asked you to assume there were ‘at least’ four teams running around. He didn’t say that’s the actual number.”

Shinken looked upon Kakashi with wide eyes, then to the former ‘rookie’, who was rapidly turning into a scary ninja in his perception. “H- how many?”

Sasuke and Sakura also listened intently, along with the other chunin present, as none of them knew the exact number.

“Twenty.”

Everyone present save for Hiruzen, Kakashi, and Naruto face-faulted.

“Twenty?!” Shinken screamed, more in disbelief than anger. “That’s impossible! That would mean you have completed eight hundred and forty missions! There has to be a law or something against this!”

“Actually, Shinken-kun,” Hiruzen answered, looking gleeful at their faces, “the only law related to D-rank missions is that you can’t use C-rank and above level ninjutsus while _on_ it barring … unfortunate circumstances. There was no stipulation about the jutsu in question _already being used_ before even accepting the mission from our office. This was a loophole included on purpose in order to allow ninjas with capabilities like Naruto possesses to be used at their full potential.”

Shinken simply lowered and shook his head, amazed by the prospect. Exactly how strong had this redhead demon become?

“Anyway, I believe we have spent enough time on this topic. Your client actually only just submitted his request, so he’s still outside waiting for approval.” Hiruzen spoke, then buzzed a bell present in front of him on the desk. “Send Tazuna in!”

The door to the Missions Office opened, and a rather old man stepped through. Despite his obvious age, however, he had a suitably fit build, if not the potbelly he boasted, but the reason for the latter was obvious after taking a single breath in his presence – the air around his was saturated with the smell of sake.

“These are the best you have?! The look like they wouldn’t be able to protect a baby, forget giving super protection to a super person like me!” he said, slurring over a few of the words.

“Please do not antagonize the team credited with your well-being, Super-san.” Sakura said, voice sickly sweet. Sasuke grinned, Kakashi eye-smiled, and Naruto smirked. “After all, you do not want us to… slip in our protections, do you?”

“N- no…” the man stammered, sobered instantly by the thought. The five then proceeded to walk out of the missions office and into the open.

“Very well, Tazuna-san,” Kakashi said, eyes on his book again (how did he whip it out of his pouch so fast is a mystery many will admit having at least pondered on occasion), “we will be departing tomorrow morning. I’ll send along my genin Haruno Sakura to collect you from your hotel… the Boro, ne?”

“Hai, Sense-san.” The man said, nodding. “If it’s not too much trouble, I will tell you how we’re gonna get there. We’ll walk to-“

“That will not be necessary.” Naruto intruded, crossing his arms. “We will be using a faster means of transport that I can administer. Do you have a fear of heights or motion sickness?”

“Not that I know of.” Tazuna said, rubbing his chin. “But are you sure? I won’t be able to pay-“

“That’s quite alright, Tazuna-san.” Naruto interrupted, smiling chillingly. “After all, a capable ninja must not charge his client for extra services he or she offers.”

Tazuna nodded reluctantly. “If that’s all…?”

“Ah yes.” Kakashi drawled, “Disperse. Naruto, meet me tomorrow at the main gates. Sasuke, I have to talk to you about something, so stay behind. Sakura, do not forget to collect our client tomorrow morning.”

“Hai, sensei!” the three genin chorused, then split up. Sakura walked in the direction of her home in the merchant’s district, Sasuke walked towards a bench nearby while Kakashi spoke to the client, and Naruto shushined away from the area entirely and into his apartment.

‘We I’ll be gone for quite a few days.’ Naruto thought, looking around. ‘On the journey itself, we may encounter resistance. I do not know why, but this entire mission is giving off a bad feeling. What should I do…?’

Naruto pondered it for quite a while, assembling and disregarding plans, until he noticed that it was quite late. He decided to sleep then, creating a kagebunshin to wrap up his pouch for tomorrow and clean the apartment.

Sleep was not to be had however.

A sharp rap had both the kagebunshin and the original redheads snap their eyes to the open window, to spot an ANBU member outside.

“Uzumaki-san, the Hokage has requested your presence.” The Cat masked ANBU said.

The Kagebunshin created another and dispersed. Naruto sighed, but decided not to irritate the monarch simply because he wished to sleep.

“I’ll be there.” He said, rising and reaching for his gear, while the ANBU simply nodded and shunshined away.

 

***

 

Naruto shunshined to the Hokage tower and walked up the stairs to be polite. He breezed past the empty secretary’s desk, and knocked on the door before making his way inside when he was allowed entry.

He was greeted by a clearly frustrated Hokage, and three very smug councilors.

“Hokage-sama. Inkenban-sama.” Naruto greeted, falling to one knee.

“Genin Unzumaki.” Hiruzen nodded, while the other three simply nodded. “It has been brought to our attention that you will be departing on a C-rank mission tomorrow. We… _agreed_ that there is something else we would like you to accomplish.”

“This is an S-rank mission to be kept a secret from your teammates.” Danzo picked up. “We had received a plea for helpfrom the rebel faction of Kirigakure no Sato a few weeks ago, requesting the single strongest shinobi we had on file to assist against the tyranny of the current Mizukage, Yagura. Since all the shinobi who fit the criteria were better used elsewhere, we simply did not respond.” At this point, he levelled a smirk at Naruto. “However, now we do have one such individual who is not only more than capable, but will be near enough and fast enough to offer assistance.”

“Your documented objective will be to travel to Kiri and assist the rebellion. We leave the details up to you.” Hiruzen spoke, tone impassive but laced with barely concealed agitation. “However, your true objective will be something else. We find… ourselves… curious as to the effects of your Uzumaki Fuuinkusari on Jinchuriki.”

Naruto felt the Kyuubii perk in interest, but paid it no more than a passing care.

“Yagura is the Jinchuuriki of the Sanbi. Your objective is to utilize your Kekkei Genkai on him and observe the results. There will be no need for a written report, a verbal one will suffice.” Danzo said, rapping his cane once on the ground. “Your are not to disguise yourself in case you are discovered, as we wish for Kiri to now of your involvement. However, the fact that you will assimilate their Kage must be kept a secret. Even though the Mizukage is widely hated, Uzumaki Kushina, a deceased member of the Uzumaki clan, drew enough scrutiny for her stunt with the Fuuinkusari for the entirety of the shinobi countries to know of it on sight.”

“To reiterate,” Hiruzen growled, “you will travel to Kirigakure when time permits in the first week after arriving in Nami no Kuni. You will assist the rebel force at your discretion. You will then assassinate the Mizukage using your fuuinkusari, the involvement of which must be kept a secret. This is an S-rank mission that will be kept from your teammates, including your sensei. If you fail, we will deny all involvement. Is that understood?”

“Hai, Hokage-sama. Inkenban-sama.” Naruto bowed his head. Internally, both Kyuubi he was alight with glee. He had literally been ordered to do something he was looking forward to anyway.

“The payment for this mission should be obvious, but we will also be granting you a selection of jutsu scrolls from the vault in this very tower.” Councilor Utatane continued. “While we have no doubt you could waltz in anytime and help yourself to our most coveted of scrolls, we will appreciate it if we did not have to lose a large fraction of ANBU while you do so.” She said in a dry tone.

“This mission, like the previous, will not be marked on your official record.” Councilor Mitokado continued. “Any objections?”

“No, Mitokado-sama.” Naruto appropriately spoke. “It would honor me no more than to simply lay my services at the feet of the tree that is Konoha. Recognition is the antithesis to anonymity, thus I would be satisfied with the arrangement.”

“This village has not been kind to you at all.” Danzo spoke bluntly. “Its citizens scorn you. Your childhood was far less than pleasant. We even have you categorized as a flight risk. Why do you display such patriotism?”

Naruto breathed in deeply. The moment of truth. Would the council buy his lies?

**“How dare he… sharingan! Begone, foul influence! I fell for it twice, no more!”**

Pain began to flood Naruto’s head, but he ignored it while speaking. “I may have had a less than ideal life so far. I may have been the lowest of the low. But this village… humanity is fickle. I have no doubt that if I did something to garner the respect of my peers tomorrow I would be hailed as a hero. Why dwell on such nonsensical whims of the masses? Furthermore, the actions of a few can not be used as an example of the nature of many. Those alive during the Kyuubi attack that hold grudges aganst me are a vast amount of the village’s population, indeed – but what of the elderly? Those who have made peace with their losses? The children who were not even alive then, but know no better simply because of their parents’ continuous suggestions? The newborns? The pets?”

Naruto raised his head to look into the eyes of everyone present. It helped that the feeling of white hot coals in his brain and eye sockets was slowly receeding. “Anger is a waste of time. For every slight, I will prove that I am better. For every whispered insult, I will draw their praises. For every strike against me, I will force them no other recourse than to cheer my name someday. That is my goal as a shinobi of Konohagakure no Sato.”

Silence reigned in the Hokage’s office for quite some time. Naruto knew his bluff worked when Danzo’s smirk deepened, and smiles grew on the faces of Hiruzen and Koharu. Homura simply smiled all the time, so identifying his approval was difficult through facial expressions alone, but he as certain it worked.

“Very well, Naruto-kun. You are dismissed.” Hiruzen smiled, and Naruto nodded before vanishing in a swirl of leaves.

As he fast-tracked his way home, Naruto let an expression of disgust reign over his features.

Anger is a waste? Sure sure.

Thinking that everyone in the village will ever accept him is a waste.

Trying to raise them from their lowly selves is a waste.

Letting them waste the air of this planet is a waste.

Naruto would have his revenge… no matter what it took.

 

***

 

While waiting for Tazuna and Sakura to show up at the village gates, already having submitted a copy of their mission scroll to the eternal gate guards Kotetsu and Izumo, Kakashi was giving his students a pep-talk.

“And remember,” he said, eyes still trained on his book, “Anything you find or … procure on this mission from enemy ninja is best kept by you or submitted to the village armory. Leave the principle of honor for the samurai to use – a ninja uses every tool at his disposal. Consequently, the bodies of any enemy ninja or even your client, should the undesirable come to pass, must be disposed of, or sealed in a scroll and brought in to the village to minimize future threats. If you have any inquiries or any… problems in dealing with what you must do or are forced to do, don’t hesitate to come speak to me.”

“Hai, sensei.” Sasuke said, nodding, while Naruto inclined his head.

“Sasuke, how does that scroll on Bakudanjutsu I gave you work out?” Kakashi asked, sounding bored to all the world, but his team knew when he was serous.

“Splendidly, sensei.” Sasuke said, grinning. He gestured to the addition of a new black pouch strapped diagonally across his chest from left shoulder to right hip, pouch in front. “Having a fire affinity means that bombs come to me on a more instinctual level, allowing me to throw them with a preternatural grasp for the area of effect and detonation time. The Kage Bakudan no Jutsu, however, is a difficult one to perform.” He ended, glancing at Naruto while he said so.

“Any shadow multiplication technique has a high chakra cost, but that’s not all, it also is taxing on the user’s mind.” Naruto said, deactivating his Keijugan, and seemingly hesitating before speaking. “Try attempting the technique with the Kagebunshin hand-sign rather than the recommended Dog one. Additionally, shadow replication techniques require you to perfectly visualize the object or yourself spawning next to the original. This alone reduces the brute strength chakra requirement by at least half.”

Sasuke nodded at that, since it made sense. “Arigato, Naruto. I will try it out the next time I train.”

Naruto just grunted noncommittally, before perking up. “Sensei, the clone team I sent about an hour ago just encountered resistance. Two chunin-level nukenin from Kirigakure, the wrongly titled Demon Brothers – Gozu and Meizu. The battle was quite a piece of cake, as it went something like this-

 

_Leisurely walking along the road, the five Doton Kagebunshin currently morphed into Team 7 plus their client were seemingly in companionable silence. This was their state for the past hour or so, as they dutifully traced the route assigned by their original. This came to an abrupt end however, when they noticed two puddle of water in the middle of the road. All sighed almost in unison at the incompetence displayed at subterfuge, reminding them briefly of a certain brunette child they had recently taken under their wing._

_Regardless, the group walked past the puddles without a backward glance, and a clone shook his head when he heard the telltale sounds of water moving._

_“One down.” A voice spoke drolly, and thy sped through the clone designated as Kakashi. The clone, using substitution and a minor application of genjutsu, survived, but made it so that the two believed he was neutralized._

_“Two down” They said, coming up behind the clone designated as Sakura. A similar incident came to pass, and ‘Sakura’ joined ‘Kakashi’ in the branches, both morphing into their original state._

_“Three and four down.” They said, slicing through Naruto and ‘Sasuke’ with their chain. They did this at high speeds, so it was quite okay that the clones just ‘died’ without a fight, since the only ‘clone’ supposed to be fast was ‘dead’._

_When all the four Doton Kagebunshin were in the branches, two readied a kunai each, and as soon as the two ninjas turned to stalk towards ‘Tazuna’ who was ‘trembling in fear’, two clones cut of the neck of one attacked, and used the Doton: Chokajugan on the second one to render him immobile. However, the second attacker had managed to take out one clone, as had the other before he fell. However, both morphed into restraints that held the dead body up and the alive one down._

_The three remaining clones, now in their original form, now converged on the lone living attacker, who was struggling against the jutsu but was unable to reverse it. They exploited their Mofuko bloodline to morph their eyes into blood-red with slits, elongated their canine and nails, and change their voice into something resembling scary._

_“Now, then,” One spoke, drawing out the words for a great impact, then poised above the man’s neck. “Who are you and why did you attack us?”_

_“I won’t tell you anything!” the man panted out, eyes darting all around._

_“Wong answer.” One clone said, and then a man’s scream rang out after a sharp cracking sound._

On interrogation, it is found that a powerful business tycoon by the name of Gato is after Tazuna’s life with fervor.” Naruto continued, ignoring the sweatdropping Kakashi and Sasuke. “He wants to kill him due to his role in the construction of a major bridge in the wave country connecting the island to the mainland of Hi no Kuni that will severely lessen the monopoly over trade he currently has established there. The two ninja who attacked us work for an A-rank nukenin Momochi Zabuza, who is accompanied by an Oinin from Mist.  They are bringing the bodies in as we speak. Konoha can claim the bounty, but they wielded equipment that have caught my fancy.”

“An Oinin?!” Kakashi took time to digest this information before sighing. “It seems we have been lied to about the parameters of this mission. Common sense would indicate that the cause of this is the poverty-afflicted nature of the Wave country, unable to pay for a higher ranked mission.”

“Had this been any other rookie genin team, they would have faced certain death for sure.” Sasuke mumbled, smiling at Naruto. “I suppose it helps that we have a strong member on our team.”

Naruto scoffed. “I am not nearly strong yet. Those brothers were simply far below their advertised level.”

Kakashi rolled his eyes. ‘Naruto, you’re easily chunin in all aspects, perhaps a tokubetsu jonin. There was no way you will not be promoted in the next chunin exams, which are about half a year away, if my memory serves me correctly. I suppose I should savor the time I have with him, considering that he’ll be off the team soon enough. The cute little redhead gaki would-‘

‘Wait.’

‘Cute? Where did that even come from? Bad Kakashi! Too much icha-icha does that to you, I guess.’

“Ah, there they are, Naruto.” Sasuke said, jostling him out of his thoughts. Kakashi only then noticed he had been taking in Naruto’s appearance. The redhead had left his hair grow, the tips of which now reached his mid-back, as wild as ever. His eyes in their forever cat-like shape, his face a pale oval. His structure, a shapely man’s…

Naruto simply strode forward to his clones, who had laid the storage seals on the ground and unsealed the bodies. He removed Gozu’s cape and shrugged it on after sealing his vest in a scroll he always kept on him, the tattered length of which reached till lower than his knee as compared to the adult’s waist length reach. He seemed to debate something internally before tossing Sasuke another scroll and then meticulously made moves to remove the gauntlets they wore carefully, thankful that the cotton lining installed for comfort meant that he could wear them without difficulties. He tested them, shooting out a chin from both the gauntlets and channeling chakra to make them join mid-flight, then retracting them to jump over them like a skipping rope, and using them as such for a few repetitions.

“These are remarkably easy to use.” He said, continuing to use the deadly poison-coated chain as a skipping-rope.

Kakashi sweat-dropped. ‘Presumably, he finds them easy to use because he saw the demon brothers use them in battle, and kami knows how that played out, but to almost instinctively use them for the first time himself… just how observant are his clones?’

“Seal them up again and turn them in straight to the Hokage. No-one else.” The redhead commanded, still skipping. The clones resealed the bodies, creating one more to complete a four-man team, who transformed into Team 7, rushing to the Missions Office soon after.

‘Did he lose only two clone in the battle against two higher level ninja?’ Sasuke thought, eyeing them incredulously. ‘Granted, shadow cones can use jutsus, but still, how strong is he…..? Itachi, right here is a talented individual, someone who is quickly catching up to your level. With his friendship, I will defeat you.’ He smiled. Then, he looked down to the scroll the redhead had thrown him. ‘What could this be?’

He made the necessary handseal and unsealed what appeared to b two branching white swords.

‘This…’ “Sasuke, that’s the Kiba – a raiton sword usually wielded in its split form. It grants its user amazing control over the element.” Kakashi parroted. Internally he was feeling quite glad at Naruto’s gesture. Handing over one of the legendary seven swords… then again, lightning really didn’t fit in with the redhead’s style. Granted, he’d just given away a major advantage that would come in handy if he ever faced a foe with a raiton affinity, the young Uzumaki was more a traditional sneaking ninja than the rather conventional front-line type.

Sasuke seemed lost for words. Having read up on the bingo book, he knew of the Legendary Seven swords, and couldn’t believe Naruto had one, forget receiving one so bluntly. “Naruto, I can’t-“

“Save it.” Naruto interrupted. “Your affinity is Raiton, as we learned from the chakra paper test the other day. With this, you’ll be hard pressed to lose to anyone in the matter.” At this, he gave Kakashi a playful gaze. “Except for our beloved Sensei, of course.”

Kakashi narrowed his eyes in mock irritation. “Don’t make me have you walk all the way to Nami, Naruto.”

Naruto made a show of gulping in fear, but his current activity clashed with the expression. “I’ll be good.”

Sakura arrived soon after, giving only a second’s glance to Naruto skipping over a razor-sharp chain, then shook her head and walked to her sensei, the ‘super’ bridge-builder Tazuna in tow. “Sensei, we are ready.”

Naruto then stopped skipping, and retracted the chain individually into each gauntlet. Then he brought his hands into a cross-seal, making five Doton Kagebunshin, who then transformed into Team 7 plus their client, and began to walk towards wave country. He then turned to the originals. “We will be flying on this mission. I have used the Keijugan on you all to give you a feel for it, but Tazuna-san will have to be tied to one of us in order to ensure he doesn’t fly off.”

While Sasuke worked on that, Naruto used the jutsu on both Kakashi and Sakura, causing them to hover in the air before each of them zipped around, testing their range of movement. While Sasuke finished tying up, the redhead created fifteen more doton kagebunshin, having them transform into crows while coming into existence. The Naruto-ravens cawed, then flew off, circling around the group, eyes darting over everything.

After applying the jutsu to Sasuke and Tazuna, the group shot straight up into the air and flew off towards their destination, the ‘super’ bridge-builder screaming until he finally fainted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enbunshin - ORIGINAL JUTSU An intangible fire element clone that explodes when something passes through it. Force and heat of the explosion depends on the quality of the user's chakra.  
> Goryuuka - Great Dragon Fire - A long-range fire element jutsu that spits out a much hotter fireball constructed in the shape of a dragon's face.  
> Genjutsu: Oinaru Sakura - Illusionary technique: Great Cherry Blossom - An illusionary technique which traps the victim in dark world with the second personality of Sakura, and receiving real-time damage from even the barest of illusionary touches.  
> Magen: Kokoni Arazu - Demonic Illusion: False Surroundings - An area-wide genjutsu that change aspects of the surroundings to anyone who steps within its limits. No cap on how many can be affected as long as they are below the user's skill and are within the area of effect. Duration and strength depends on the quality of the user's chakra.  
> Magen: Jubaku Satsu: Demonic Illusion: Tree-binding Death - A targeted genjutsu that can be dissociated into two parts; one, the part wherein the user disperses into a mist that dissolves, then reforms behind them in the form of a rapidly growing tree that traps the victim (essentially keeping the still while the genjutsu robs them of their mobility), and two, wherein the user can either interrogate the victim (since the target is still conscious for the duration of the jutsu) or outright kill them.  
> Sando - Sandwich - Two rock formations literally sandwich the target. The size and strength of these formations depend on the quality pf the user's chakra.  
> Kengan - Fist Rock - The user's fist is encased in rock to increase hitting power.  
> Chidokaku - Moving Earth Core - The user uses Doton chakra to lower or raise a targeted area, creating either deep holes in the ground or rising pillars.  
> Saichidokaku - Great moving Earth Core - A larger variant of the Chidokaku.  
> Iwahogo - Rock Shelter - A hemishperical hollow formation of rock encases the user and any nearby allies. Strength and density of the formation, as well as size, depend on the user's chakra.  
> Doryuujoheki - Earth Rampart - Raises a gigantic earthen rampart in front of or underneath the user. The shape and size of the construct depends on the quality of chakra used.  
> Doryuudan - Mud Dragon Bullet - A mud dragon is created by the user either from a preexisting earth source or from converted chakra from the user's mouth. The dragon can either spit out earthen projectiles at the target, or move itself at high speeds towards the same. The strength and size of the construct, and the speed at which it impacts, all three depend on the quality of the user's chakra.  
> Iwakami no Unarigoe - Rock God's Growl - ORIGINAL JUTSU An area-wide earth element jutsu that starts as a scream from the user, causing tiny particles of rock to float in the air round him, then disperse outwards, impacting like a bullet on a molecular level.  
> Goiwa Aki - Grand Rock Fall - ORIGINAL JUTSU An earth element jutsu that begins when the user slams a foot into the ground, causing a large sized rock to rise and then slam into the target. The size of the rock depends on the quality of the user's chakra.  
> Hijutsu: Tajyuu Kemonogazo - Secret Technique: Multiple Beast-imagery - ORIGINAL JUTSU Depending on the user's capability to form large amounts of Doton kagebunshin and use the Mofuko bloodline, the technique involves the transformation of all of the created clones into a horde of deadly mutated predators (think Forest of Death).  
> Bakudanjutsu - Bomb techniques.  
> Tokubetsu Jonin - Chunins who have the specialties of a jonin but no team-leading capabilities are given this rank.


	5. Unbidden, the Second.

“Well, that was fast.” Kakashi mused, angling his flight downwards. “Everyone, land now.”

One by one, all of Team 7 and the unconscious Tazuna touched down after crossing the mass of water that separated Hi no Kuni and Nami no Kuni. Naruto scoffed at Tazuna as Sasuke untied him.

“Sensei, why did we not fly till we reached the village Tazuna-san is from?” Sakura asked, shifting nervously.

“Because, pinketter-chan,” Kakashi said, eye-smiling. “We need Tazuna-san awake to tell us which village is it. On this land-mass, there are two villages in particular, sister villages if you may, that are almost identical. Additionally, we do not know whether Tazuna’s house is actually in the village, and asking around would surely alert Gato, who has probably employed spies in the vicinity. Approaching his daughter or his grand-son would be too risky, too.”

“That’s baseless, however.” Naruto butted in, folding his hands. “We can easily observe the area and recognize Tazuna’s house through reconnaissance and visually identifying his family.”

“We shouldn’t waste time when our answer is right in front of us, yes?” Kakashi said, still smiling.

Naruto huffed, but complied.

“Wha-“ Tazuna grumbled, standing up with sasuke’s help, then promptly turned around and threw up. “Kami!”

“Tazuna-san, are you okay?” Sakura asked, concerned. She helped the man settle down and drink his canteen of water in slow, small gulps. Naruto smirked in twisted glee. In order for anyone to feel properly oriented, or even move, while under the influence of Keijugan other than the user himself, one had to know the chakra propulsion exercise. Kakashi had specifically taught his team it after realizing the rapid transit opportunity Naruto’s jutsu gave the team. Tazuna must have felt like he went through the worst roller coaster of his life.

“It’s… well, at least now I know I have a fear of heights.” Tazuna grumbled.

“That wouldn’t be the case if you didn’t drink so much.” Naruto grumbled, but wilted under Kakashi’s reproachful gaze.

“Please lead us to your house, Tazuna-san.”

“Of course, Sensei-san. We are… on Nami no Kuni’s north shores? It’s quite close, please follow me.”

And so, the five-people group walked along with Tazuna, restricted by the civillian’s speed.

“Sensei, does Nami no Kuni not have any hidden villages?” Sakura asked, curious.

“Not quite, Sakura. The Island does not have enough habitants to even match half of Konoha’s population.” Kakashi said, the cocked his head. “In fact, even the normal villages here of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are quite empty.”

“That will change when the bridge is complete.” Tazuna said, voice full of hope. “Nami no Kuni may not have much in the way of agricultural resources, but it has a lot of metal deposits, and even certain monuments. With proper trade and transport, it could become a flourishing land. But Gato…”

“Why is a village called ‘hidden’ if everyone knows where it is?” Naruto asked, kicking a stray rock away. “For instance, our village is called ‘Konohagakure no Sato’, but it isn’t hidden at all! By now, everyone knows where it is, and the same applies for every other ‘hidden’ ninja village! The only properly hidden ninja village is Takigakure.”

“The names have simply stuck, Naruto.” Sasuke said, gazing up into the sky. “Once upon a time, when the villages were first founded under the watchful eyes of Uchha Madara and Senju Hashirama, their dream was simply for a peaceful settlement away from all wars. However, the presence of people skilled in war and stealth brought about the concept of ninja.”

“That’s right!” Sakura piped in. “Before the creation of ‘Hidden Villages’, there were only clans. Warring between them was as daily an occurrence as watching clouds in the sky – they all wanted to be on top, and so fighting was common. Come to think of it, we were more like warriors with special abilities than ‘ninja’ back then.” She seemed to be in thought, and raised her head to ask, “Sensei-“

She was cut off by Sasuke who threw a kunai into a bush.

“Sasuke!” Sakura reprimanded.

“I swear I felt someone, right there!” The Uchiha said, disregarding Sakura.

When Kakashi and Naruto went to have a look, the spotted only a white rabbit, impaled to the tree straight through the eye. They identified the breed as the Morpho-oryctolagus cuniculus through the black tipped ears and larger-than-normal bushy tail. But this put both into deep thought. They traded a glance as they thought together, ‘This breed of rabbit changes color based on the amount of sunlight it is exposed to, direct or indirect. It turns brown when exposed for more than fifteen minutes. It’s the middle of the day, so should it not be brown…? White means it was kept indoors, either as a pet, or… for substitution! Which means-‘

‘Wait... that noise…?’

“GET DOWN!” the two of them yelled, and everyone dropped to all fours. But Tazuna was not fast enough. Naruto in a shunshin, appeared in front of the three vulnerable people and erected a rock dome using Doton: Iwa Hogo. After a dull thud impacted the dome, Naruto used a directed Doton: Iwakami no Unarigoe to blast it outwards. When the dust settled, Naruto saw that the object that had impacted his dome, a zanbato by the looks of it, had been flung into a tree trunk. Having studied the Bingo book for his profile while flying, Naruto recognized the person who appeared to stand on it easily.

“Momochi Zabuza.” He said, voice icy. And indeed, the man looked exactly like the picture in the bingo book, if not for a change of uniform. He still wore his headband in a style reminiscent of Naruto’s save for the tilt. His lower face was wrapped in bandages, and his torso was bare. Arctic camo pants and grey shinobi sandals clothes is lower half, with leg warmers of similar camo scheme donned on his lower arms, between his elbow and wrist. On his hands were a pair of metal plated black gloves.

“Well well well, what have we here?” the man said, expression unidentifiable because of the lack of eyebrows and covered face. “Sharingan no Kakashi and a Doton expert?”

“My name is Uzumaki Naruto.” Said boy growled, fingers twitching.

“An Uzumaki?” Zabuza asked, voice surprised.  “I thought they were all but wiped out. This should be interesting.” He said, releasing a tiny bit of killing intent. Both Kakashi (a member of the ANBU) and Naruto (Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune) shrugged it off, but Sakura froze in place, paralyzed by the fear permeating the air, while Tazuna passed out. Curiously, Sasuke remained largely unaffected, although he still shivered, and instead only unsealed the Kiba from the scroll.

“No time to waste.” Naruto said, and sunk into the ground, while simultaneously, twenty Doton Kagebunshin Iwabunshin burst from the trees and fell from the sky alike. Zabuza managed to avoid most of them, but seven of them caught him and phased into rock. No sooner than that happened, twenty Doton kagebunshin burst from the ground, ready to deliver Kengan-powered punches. Kakashi, seeing the opportunity for an early win, charged a Raikiri in his hand and geared in for a Shunshin-

Only to suddenly see a rectangular construct of ice form behind Zabuza, and someone proclaiming, “Hyouton: Tsurara no Mai!” (Dance of the Icicles)

A sudden wind picked up, blowing cool air and ice fragments in harsh force. A concentrated burst hit Zabuza, showing him to be a Mizubunshin, and everything in his direction, forcing Kakashi to Jump back and the Naruto clones holding him down to break apart. One of the clones of the younger boy in question had quickly raised an overpowered Doryuuheki once he thought Kakashi was going to fall back within distance, but was not prepared for another Mizubunshin of Zabuza’s own creation to roundhouse kick Kakashi from behind and launch him towards the lake, just before a kunai from one of Naruto’s clones pierced straight through the water clone’s face.

Another Doton Kagebunshin burst from the ground and grabbed Kakashi, applying the Keijugan in the process, then whirled midair and threw the Jounin at the real enemy swordsman with all his might. Kakashi himself charged a Raikiri, but instead of stabbing it straight through Zabuza like Naruto believed he would, he uppercut him into the air with it.

Kakashi began to toss Zabuza around midair while Sasuke attempted to engage the man’s accomplice in a match. The Kiba and a pair of senbon never making contact with each other – the oinin seemed to be quite adept at dodging however, even refraining from using much jutsu… did he or she not have high reserves? The clone dispersed to transfer the information to the original, who created another Doton Kagebunshin. The earth elemental clone shot from the ground and clasped his hands together in the snake handsign to perform the Doton: Sando.

However, the Oinin seemed to vanish into another one of those ice mirrors and shot out from the back just as the earth jutsu closed in on him/her.

 _‘That jutsu… it’s a space-time technique, there’s no doubt about it. This is going to be difficult, especially since we do not have the element of surprise.’_ The clone internally groaned, and dispersed.

Sakura had recovered from her fear spell and quickly planted herself between Tazuna and the combat, then went through handsigns for the Magen: Kokoni Arazu to hide them from the visual range of the attackers.

Kakashi, meanwhile, was done tossing Zabuza around and at the apex of his aerial climb, proclaimed, “Raiton: Soraishin!”

Zabuza managed to let out a short pained gasp as Kakashi plunged the Raikiri into him, and then kicked him off, slamming the ex-kiri-nin into the ground. Not a single moment was wasted before several Doton: Kagebunshin emerged from the ground and pinned Zabuza down as Kakashi landed, panting, before another speared right through him as he erupted from below… only for their victim to disperse into water?

_‘Mizubunshin!’_

What had to be the real Zabuza shunshined behind Kakashi and rammed to broadside of his zanbato into the Copynin, again sending him straight into the lake. Naruto attempted to intercept, but yet another Mizubinshin emerged from the mist and launched into a devastating swirling attack with the zanbato that dealt with most of them and forced the others to dodge. This few seconds were enough, however, as the original Zabuza sped to the water body behind his airborne enemy, and plunged his hand in the water just as Kakashi splashed in it. “Suiton: Suiro no jutsu!”

‘And everything was going quite okay till now too.’ Kakashi internally moaned, watching with shocked resignation as the water around his person moved into a spherical formation, locking him in its grip. He instantly started using the Suiton manipulation exercise that drew water from air in the opposite fashion, drawing air from water. It was a severely draining exercise, one he hadn’t even mastered yet, but at least it would keep him alive.

“Kirigakure no Jutsu!” Zabuza proclaimed again, and suddenly a mist seemed to flow in from all sides of the little clearing they were in.

“What kind of ninja yells out the name of his jutsus anyway?” the real Naruto grumbled. “Don’t you specialize in _silent_ killing?”

Kakashi sighed in response, while Zabuza seemed to have gained a tick mark on his forehead. The Oinin who accompanied Zabuza appeared at his side, but the genin team’s teacher’s fears were quelled when he saw a simply panting Sasuke approach Naruto from behind. Sakura lost concentration seeing her sensei in such a predicament and her genjutsu fell.

“Now then, brats, I’m giving you one more chance – abandon your client and run, or else you will die a very painful death.” Zabuza said, smirking underneath his bandages. Besides him, Haku made a threatening pose with two Hyousenbon, and the Kubikiribocho wielder felt a momentary flare of irritation. Were it not for the whisker gaki, he would have a way out of this by now. The gaki was going to be an issue if this went on, especially since he should not have weighed them much when he held on – that had to be the Kajugan no jutsu. And if a shinobi knew more than three jutsus of an element to a proficiency that he could use them without hand-signs, one could not underestimate his jutsu arsenal at all.

Meanwhile, the child behind the mask was having different thoughts entirely. ‘His eyes… he has been through hardship.’ He thought, slipping into his senbonken stance. ‘He is dangerous. Not because of his jutsu, but because of his apparent willingness to see things through. That can be deadly… and I only know a few Hyouton Ninjutsu. I think it’s time to use _that_ …’

Sakura, meanwhile, finished priming her chakra again. Immediately, a tree seemed to sprout behind the boy, and Sakura emerged from it, primed to strike at his neck.

The masked boy, however, simply raised his hand backwards, launching a hail of ice senbon from the mist. This compelled Sakura to dodge and jump back to their client, who she had entrusted the safekeeping of to Sasuke for the time.

“He can counter any genjutsu physically… it’s like he’s not even affected!” the rosette sighed in frustration.

“Being constantly impacted by Zabuza’s killing intent, weak level genjutsu will be like shrugging off flies to him. I’m sorry, Sakura.” Sasuke empathized, still not taking eyes of his opponent. He knew all-too-well how it feels to be useless against a considerably stronger opponent.

Meanwhile, the boy’s eyes were drawn to a slight ripple in the water on which he was standing. That was the only warning he got before he had to turn to block a blow from… Kakashi?

“Nice to see how stupid nukenin are nowadays.” ‘Kakashi’ said, flashing his Sharingan. The Kakashi inside the water prison dispersed in a burst of smoke. Zabuza cursed his luck for fighting ninja who knew the Kagebunshin before he withdrew his hand and jumped backwards along with his charge to create some space beween them, both landing on the waterfall nearby. When the water prison dissipated into a swirl of water before falling into the lake, however… Kakashi was still there?!

‘That means…!’

The Kakashi who jumped up from the water smirked, before transforming back into his original state of a small redhead and dispersing.

‘That gaki!’ Zabuza fumed, while the boy next to him clenched his fists in frustration. These were tricky ninja they were dealing with.

‘Nice thinking, Naruto!’ Kakashi praised, drawing two kunai in each hand and imbuing them with lightning chakra, something which seemed to catch the eyes of the Uchiha progeny. ‘Seems that Sasuke is interested in Raiton… but that instinctual draw… could it be that he has a lightning nature? I’ll have to check when we finish this fight. He’s already low-chunin level… but Naruto is beyond even a tokubetsu jonin, clearly! Even if I did not believe it concretely before, I do now. The idea to trick those two into thinking that I was a clone while his clone was the original was ingenious! Granted, it would not have worked without his bloodline or Sakura’s split-second understanding and genjutsu application, but it was a worthy idea none-the-less!’

“Kukuku, Haku, it looks like we are up against people who actually aren’t trash this time. At this rate, they might just irritate us. We can’t have that, can we?” Zabuza smirked, hefting his zanpakuto over his right shoulder.

“No, Zabuza-sama.” The now named Haku said, before stepping into a sheet of ice that appeared in front of him, before shooting towards the unconscious Tazuna.

 _‘Fast!_ ’ Kakashi thought, turning to run to his genin, but a Suiryuu no jutsu from Zabuza forced him to backflip.

“Your fight is with me, Hatake!” Zabuza roared, before raising his right hand and falling into a familiar stance.

 _‘But his Kirigakure no Jutsu is still active… what can he be doing?’_ Kakashi thought, readying himself.

“Kirininaru no Jutsu.” he whispered, before dispersing into mist himself.

_‘Oh shit.’_

 

***

 

“Hyouton hijutsu: Makyo Hyousho!” Haku called out. The air was suddenly awash with tinkling sounds as ice hit Ice, hasty in their rush to take form. The mist condensed into the same mirrors that he used to reach his targets, but instead of one, twenty-five formed in a dome formation – fourteen on ground level, nine above that, and finally two facing each other and the ground. The formation of nine feet tall mirrors seemed to expand outwards until they left no gaps as such, blocking outside view completely. What really shocked the genin of Team 7, however, was when the image of the boy appeared in each plane.

‘Chikuso!’ they all unknowingly mentally cursed at once. Naruto immediately grabbed the client and sunk into the ground while Sakura drew a kunai from her pouch and Sasuke sealed Kiba back in the scroll. However, he was quick to draw four frag bombs from his pouch and hurl them at the mirrors, then made a cross handsign. Pumping half of his chakra into the jutsu, he attempted to launch the Kage Bakudan…

Only for four hyousenbon to pierce the spheres with pinpoint accuracy, then freeze them over.

“Any last words?” the masked boy quietly asked, voice reverberating across the closed space as seemingly all images spoke as one, raising their right hands towards the two trapped ninjas.

Sasuke primed more chakra and inhaled deeply. “Katon-“

“Wrong choice.” The ice user interrupted, and made single-handed hand-signs.

“Goryuuka!”

“Hyouton: Sensatsu Suisho!”

 

***

 

Naruto reappeared under the cover of trees, and immediately set to work. Three Doton: Kagebunshin appeared in identical miniature plumes of smoke, one sunk to the ground, while the other closed its eyes before frowning and growing in size and morphing out of shape at the same time. Soon, it it’s place stood a giant raven, who picked the unconscious Tazuna in its talons up and shot into the air, the third clone on its back.

He almost got whiplash when he snapped his head towards the area where a distinctly male roar originated.

‘Sasuke?’

He calmly seeped into the ground and surfaced in the dome. He almost stopped in the middle of surfacing when he saw what lay in front of him.

Sasuke, eyes glaring all around them, but they weren’t his normal eyes. The three-tomoe form of the Sharingan replaced his black eyes. He was kneeling on the floor, arms around the prone form of Sakura, whose eyes were closed and chest lay still unbreathing.

Unbreathing.

Sakura… was dead?

Good.

She was useless. Genjutsus, unless of high enough level, was a completely worthless art against many. The only genjutsu he knew of which was worthy of being called a ninja technique was Uchiha Itachi’s Tsukuyomi, and Uchiha Shisui’s Kotoamatsukami. Both had godly potential, and both were in the hands of Uchiha prodigies. What did Sakura boast, but minor parlor tricks any ninja of worth could dispel?

“I will kill you!” The Uchiha roared, and immediately fainted.

Pathetic. He finally unlocked the Sharingan, supposedly going to the next level, and he passes out? Orochimaru knew that the costs of such a dojutsu were high, though, and Sasuke’s reserves were… small. However, now that he unlocked the sharingan, that would change. Constantly keeping active a level 3 basic Sharingan is said to improve one’s reserves and control.

 **“Sharingan!”** a familiar voice roared in Naruto’s head, making him clutch it in pain. **“Those cursed eyes! Kill them all!”**

“You must have loved them dearly,” The various images of Hakus said in unison, raising his hand towards Naruto in preparation for his jutsu. “if their weakened state makes you feel this conflicted.”

 **“Love is for the weak!”** Kyuubi roared in his head.

“Shut… up…” Naruto spoke out shakily.

**“Hate! Hate is what makes me strong! And I am the most powerful of all the bijuu! Power power power, hate is power! Take his power, kit!”**

“Don’t talk about me… like I’m your toy…” Naruto growled, falling to his knees.

 

***

 

Outside the ice dome, Kakashi and Doton Kagenbunshin Naruto were faring quite well against Zabuza. Kakashi, bearer of a thousand jutsu, used a simple Fuuton: Daitoppa to blow away the mist and forced Zabuza to reform solidly. The two then engaged in a fierce battle, Zabuza using his Kubikiribocho, and Kakashi, sharingan visible, used Raiton infused kunai to battle. However, kunai did not normally conduct chakra, and forcing the action was a huge drain on his reserves.

However, he was helped by Naruto, who appeared in the wake of a localized earthquake, the destabilization of which allowed Kakashi to jam a kunai into Zabuza’s left shoulder. Zabuza was then slammed away by a Go Iwa-aki projectile.

Kakashi gave Naruto a single eye-smile before jumping at his chance.

That was when he noticed that the giant bird that flew out of the forest was falling, and instead had to use a chakra-powered jump to catch his client before he crashed into the ground headfirst.

“Naruto!”

 

***

 

**“Ah, but you are my toy. And until you defeat me, you will continue to be my toy, meat-bag!”**

**Kyuubi did not know why he was trying to help his jinchuuriki, but he admitted that it felt good to let out his killing intent within the brat’s subconscious. The only way the brat was going to get more interesting, however, was if he acquired more abilities and finally fought him, which meant he had to get stronger, which meant he _needed more bloodlines_.**

**Granted, Kyuubi did not know how the implications of having more than one bloodline in a single vessel, but hey, it had to be interesting.**

**“And you will not be able to defeat me unless you’re stronger. Hate is the key to strength.”**

“You’re... wrong…”

**“Oh am I? Then what is it, what is the answer to getting more power?!”**

“…”

**“No answer?” Kyuubi grinned, teeth glinting full of malice in the darkness of Naruto’s mindscape. “Allow me to… refresh your memory!” And with a localized flare of chakra towards the brat’s memory center, a certain memory snapped back into place, the handiwork of Yamanaka Inoichi falling to pieces under the Kyuubi’s might.**

 

_A tiny blonde boy was running. Running was all he knew, it seemed._

_He ran during the day, to reach places. The Hokage tower was one place he liked to go to, considering that the one of the scant number of people who did not hate him held office over there. He ran in the evening to Ichiraku’s, a place he considered a second home, considering that Teuchi-ojisan and Ayame-neechan always regarded him with kind eyes._

_At night, he ran from people._

_Carrying sharp pitchforks, sturdy sticks, and even kitchen knives, currently, there were ten or so people running after the four-year-old. They weren’t gaining any ground, however, because he was subconsciously tapping into chakra to enhance his speed. But for a four-year-old, it meant he was barely a little faster than the adult men behind him._

_“Catch the demon!”_

_‘He has to pay!”_

_Tears dropped freely for the young boy’s eyes as he ran through dilapidated streets of the worst district in Konoha, racing through unfamiliar twists and turns just to outrun the mean people. Why did they hate him so much? What did he do wrong? He always listened to Hokage-jiji, never annyed anyone, and recently only tried to talk to other people once! Surely that did not mean he had to die?_

_Sadness and fear warred within his small heart, but fear won when he ran right into an alleyway with a dead end._

_He looked up at the brick-wall, bewildered, and then turned around to try to dash out before the mean people came, but ran straight into one._

_“Well, well, well…” the man said, grabbing him by his neck and hoisting him into the air. “What do we have here?”_

_“Is the demon eager to meet us?”_

_“Maybe he is waiting for his punishment?”_

_Then the man holding Naruto threw him against the wall, giving Naruto a severe concussion._

_“Chain him up!  Don’t even want to see the demon move while we dole out our… punishment.”_

_Then all he knew was screaming and pain._

_When he woke up next, he could not see, panicking, he only belatedly felt the heavy cloth over his eyes and then relaxed, since he could feel his eyelids. He heard footsteps outside, and abruptly pretended to be asleep so that no one would hurt him anymore._

_There was shouting, before the door suddenly slammed open, almost causing Naruto to jump and give himself away, before he abruptly felt himself be pressed against something soft… cloth?_

_“Inu, calm down and think this through.” Someone said, and he recognized the voce of Hokage-jiji. “This is the best possible route for him.”_

_“Sealing away a memory is never good for anyone!” The voice said, sounding deeper than it actually was since he was against the person’s chest. The person sounded much younger than Hokage-jiji, and full of anger. “And he’s four, for kami’s sake! I will not allow this!”_

_“I am your hokage, and I command you to drop Naruto-kun now!” Hokage-jiji said, voice authoritative but… sad. “He experience was too traumatic, he needs to forget-“_

_“He ‘needs’ me!” Inu yelled, moving abruptly. “I stayed away because the grief was too much, but if such animals live in your village-“_

_“This is your village too, Inu.” Hokage-jiji said, voice sounding… dead. What happened?  Why is everyone so angry?_

_“I refuse to be related to such barbarians!” Inu yelled, and there were more footsteps. “They tortured a child – a four year old child! They peeled his skin off, rubbed salt into his flesh, cut his tongue, wrenched his nails and teeth out, crushed his eye-“_

_“Enough!” Hokage-jiji said, sounding anguished. Who did all this happen to? Naruto wished he could be there for that person. “I will listen to this no more, and neither can he.”_

_Inu stiffened abruptly, and Naruto felt now was the right time to open his eyes._

_It was him…_

_They were talking about him…._

_That was his last thought before darkness overtook him._

**“Do you see? The so-called ‘village’ you wanted to fight for and under had forever treated you like a pariah, a monster, worse than trash. Without power, how will you teach them a lesson? Without power, you are as weak as your four-year-old self, clambering for recognition – pathetic.”**

“Shut up…”

**“The truth is you are pathetic!’**

“SHUT UP!”

 

***

 

Zabuza had only felt fear two times before in his life.

One was when the Kiri no Shinobigatana Shinchinin Shu disbanded officially, after Kisame’s betrayal. He feared that he would never find a home as such as that again, but squashed the fear under a sense of revenge. Even today, he hunted Hoshigaki Kisame.

Two, was when he fought the fourth Mizukage. He feared not for his life, but for his village, the place who molded him as he was. The bloodline purge had gone too far for an already outrageous idea, and he attempted to assassinate the leader of the movement. His fear fueled his rage and even against the Jinchuuriki of the Sanbi, he had almost won, leaving a scar even in its tailed beast form as proof of the power of fear.

Now, however, it seemed another time had to be added to that list – the time when he felt a glowing orange chain fly through his chest, and a multitude of similar chains emerging through every plane of Haku’s Makyo Hyosho, and felt his heart ache. Fear and sadness ran rampant in his heart, and when he thought of the boy he had come to see of as… something more, he could not deal with the guilt of knowing his pushing, his force behind the boy to advance had pushed him into subservience of such a degree that he had devoted himself to Zabuza’s every whim. Why… why could he not have told him how he really felt?

While Haku was thinking similar thoughts, Kakashi had a single thought going through his mind.

“Chikusho.”

 

***

 

Deep within Naruto, a battle of wills was underway.

The Mofuko and the Hyouton were both bloodlines. As such, they were a dominant trait in any single person. The prevalence of two bloodline required an enormous strength of will and conviction, something that was broken within Naruto after the onset of a single suppressed memory.

As such, the bloodline gene within Naruto already bore two imprints – the Uzumaki Fuinkusarri and the Mofuko. Thus, Naruto’s genetic structure itself was fighting the onset of another bloodline.

When the fight reached his spiritual energy, however, something… snapped.

The Hyouton energy split into two parts – knowledge and power. The knowledge part held the deeper meaning behind the element, while the power part held the capability to perform it. While the knowledge part slipped into Naruto’s brain effortlessly, the power part embossed itself into another part of the Uzumaki progeny.

 **“Hmm? What is this?”** The kyuubi questioned, roused from his sleep by a tickling sensation along his tails. When he looked back, howoever, he choked on air.

His tails were slowly turning white.

 **“What… what is this? Why is it so-“** The Kyuubi abruptly cut off, and then began to thrash in pain.

**“NO! WHAT IS HAPPENING? THAT BRAT, I WILL-“**

But it was then that his brain kicked into understanding.

No single Shinobi can house more than a single bloodline. Since Naruto’s Uzumaki Fuinkusari was a recessive bloodline, it allowed the more active Mofuko bloodline to slide in with ease. However, the Hyouton was another active bloodline, and in order to allow Naruto to use it without his body wasting away in the process, it was clinging to the only other chakra source within the boy.

The Kyuubi’s primary element was wind, a component of the Hyouton. Wind attracted wind, and so the Hyouton chakra, instead of being expelled latched on to the Kyuubi instead.

As it felt the Katon within itself be forcibly ejected and Suiton take its place, the Kyuubi lay cursing its redhead Jinchuuriki for this torture, and itself for being the catalyst for the cause of this in the first place.

When Naruto later ‘awoke’, it was in the sewer he had come to associate with his mindscape.

It was… different, however.

Instead of the damp ground, frost now coated the floor, and icicles formed along the ceiling of the wide passageway. As he walked on, it grew progressively colder until he approached the site of the Kyuubi’s imprisonment.

There, he was quite… astonished at the sight beyond the pale cream bars.

“You look, different.”

And indeed, where he once felt that the Kyuubi was once horrendously orange, now an ice blue version of the fox sat in it’s place, meditating. When it opened its eyes, the Kitsune showed navy blue irises instead of its past crimson red.

 **“That would be your doing, I’m afraid.”** The Kyuubi said, its voice a clearer, smother baritone.

“What do you-“ Naruto began, but silenced himself when he realized the implications of the Kyuubi’s words. “So you’re the Kyuubi no Hyoukitsune, now?”

 **“Do not take this lightly.”** The Kyuubi growled, and the space grew dramatically cold. **“You have changed an aspect of my very nature. I would normally crush you between two of my fingers.”**

“Does it sadden you that these bars lie between you and your revenge?” Naruto asked, slipping into a battle stance. No matter whether the cage was in place or not, preparation is better than falling.

 **“Quite the opposite. Associating with you is clearly more interesting and less painful to my mind.”** The Kyuubi said, one corner of its gigantic maw slipping into a grin, its ice-bue tails swishing in delight. **“No jinchuuriki has ever managed to change the nature of their bijuu before. But then again, no jinchuuriki ever bore the Uzumaki Fuinkusari before. You are an interesting gaki, even to me.”**

Naruto weighed the words in his mind, before smirking. “So, you’re tamed with… entertainment?”

 **“Being sealed into someone usually does not brook any room for entertainment.”** The fox bit back, voice almost teasing, before slipping into irritation. **“And the… person who sealed you into me, he sealed only the Yang half of my chakra within you. The Yin half of my chakra is currently without a mind and in the stomach of the death god. I feel… fundamentally incomplete.”**

Naruto would have shuddered at the implication. Having half of your chakra permanently lost seemed… excessive. However, this explained his healing prowess, since Yang chakra was associate with physical energy. At to that his Uzumaki heritage… “How do I get it back?”

At the fox’s surprised look, however, Naruto further elaborated. “A win against you even for answers, would ring hollow were you not at your full strength.”

The Kyuubi gazed at its jinchuuriki with unfathomable eyes, before beginning. **“In order to unseal my chakra, you will have to bring back my sealer from the belly of he who reigns over death himself, which is impossible with my will alone. However, there exists a temple devoted to the name of the Shinigami n Uzushiogakure…”**

As Naruto listened to Kyuubi’s plan, he grinned a feral grin that would have struck fear into the hearts of even the most battle-hardened shinobi.

 

***

 

When Naruto slammed into reality, it was to the wooden ceiling of an unfamiliar house. He sighed, and sat up, popping his joints. The Kyuubi and he had negotiated an agreement wherein he would be fed more of the Kyuubi’s chakra until he revived his other half, after which he would gain a secret jutsu even the Uzumaki did not know. He wasn’t so naïve as to think the fox would hold up his end of the bargain absolutely, but the fact was that the added influx of chakra was speeding up his regeneration power and increasing his own base reserves as his chakra coils swelled to accommodate the added chakra. The Kyuubi must be desperate to regain its Yin chakra.

He stood up, and dressed in his ‘uniform’, which had been washed and folded neatly. The gauntlets he took from the Demon Brothers lay next to the pile, yet he hesitated in wearing them. He had not used them much, and forming handseals and grabbing Zabuza had proven difficult with them. So instead, he drew a sealing scroll from his weapon’s pouch and sealed them in, then made his way downstairs.

He was mildly surmised to see Sakura alive and well, helping an older girl to cook in the kitchen. It was daylight out, which meant it was around afternoon, if the shadows were any indication. Instead of greeting her with words, however, he flicked the scroll lightly at her, scoring a hit with Sakura’s head, who turned around at that.

She saw no-one, but made move to walk forward when her foot touched a scroll.

‘A sealing scroll?’ she wondered, then saw the Uzumaki swirl on the left side.

“From Naruto?! I must tell sensei he is awake!”

 

***

 

Naruto walked out of the house. Kakashi and Sasuke were nowhere to be seen, so instead Naruto made way towards the forest. He cited luck, however, when he stumbled upon a football field sized clearing not ten minutes away.

He drew his hands into a familiar cross-sign, and six hundred clones popped into existence. The reduced number was in order to accommodate the chakra intensive training they would be doing.

‘Hmm… I wasted a little chakra on that one. My control is slipping.’ All of them thought simultaneously. Instantly, the clones sped away to their assignments while the original sat down to meditate upon the influx of new memories. Fifty of them were to take to the trees outside of there and practice with Zabuza’s Kirigakure and Kirininaru no jutsu, since the redhead believed that, while his Dochu Senko is more comfortable, he would be at a loss if he were to fight on water. Having those two jutsus and Zabuza’s Silent Killing techniques could only be beneficial. Two hundred and fifty of them were to practice the collective suiton jutsus he got from Zabuza and Haku – this included the Suiryuudan, the Suiro, the Daibakufu, the Suidan, the Bakusui Shoha, the Suijinheki, the Mizubunshin, and the Mizuryuu no Mai. Another two hundred would sort through and practice the hyouton jutsus Haku knew and read from the scroll Zabuza procured from Yukigakure – the Hyousenbon, the Sensatsu Suisho, the Hyouro, the Hyougan Domu, the Tsubame Fubuki, the Haryu Moko, the Roga Nadare, and the Hyoken. Fifty of them would work on incorporating the saihyoken into his normal taijutsu, and another fifty would work on incorporating Hyouton chakra in our kagebunshins and find applications for it, while the rest would work on perfecting the Makyo Hyousho.

After the first clone dispelled from the Makyo Hyousho group, Naruto stopped meditating on Zabuza and Haku’s memories to test out one of Haku’s theories. Naruto formed a mirror of ice in front of him, and stepped through. While the window still existed to the outside world behind his person, navy blue darkness surrounded him from every other direction. He concentrated all but the last few slivers of chakra necessary to maintaining his clone jutsu into visualizing the front of the house he walked out of, and pushed the image of the place, and molded hyouton chakra into the void in front of him.

Instantly, the mirror appeared in front of him that led to that location. Shaking in equal parts exhaustion and excitement, he stepped through and ended up in front of the house. He looked back to see the ice mirror still there, and the first mirror before that. Instantly, he created a shadow clone and dispelled it, to share this information with all his clones. That done, and now being dangerously low on chakra, he dispelled both his created ice mirrors, and walked to edge of a nearby cliff that overlooked the sea meeting land in the form of a river, and sat down on crossed legs, sitting in a meditative trance to both restore his chakra and sort through memories.

His eyes opened when he felt a presence right next to him.

“You know,” Kakashi began sitting down next to him and putting his book away, “training that way is going to stress the memory center severely. There’s a reason that jutsu is in the Kinjutsu scroll.”

“That’s where Kyuubi-sama actually comes in handy.” Naruto said, eyes opening. His cerulean blue was much lighter than before, but Kakashi said nothing to point it out. “The combined healing factor applies to my brain as well, creating more nerves and hastening synapses so that I can handle the stress permanently. In short, if I ever stress myself, my body will simply adapt so that I can overcome it. The Mofuko bloodline also helps in this regard.”

Kakashi was silent, staring over the blue, before he spoke. “Naruto, about this week-”

“’This week?’” Naruto interrupted, turning to look at Kakashi fully. “I thought it was a day ago at maximum.”

“You’ve been asleep for three days, Naruto-kun.” The grey-haired shinobi said, rolling his visible eye. Naruto, seated on his right rolled his in response. “Your Uzumaki Fuinkusari completely depends on your emotions. We need to get you a better handle on them.”

“I hope you don’t mean having a Yamanaka seal away a memory of mine, sensei.” Naruto whispered. “Or should I call you Inu-san?”

Kakashi jerked back as if slapped, and looked at Naruto with a single wide eye. “How-“

“Before … assimilating Zabuza and Haku, the seal on the memory broke, perhaps due to heightened emotions.” Naruto sighed. “I wonder... never mind. It does us no use to dwell on the past.”

“Of course, Naruto-kun.” Kakashi swiftly agreed, then sighed heavily. “I didn’t want that for you, you know.”

“I know.” Naruto said, then silence reigned between the two for a while.

Kakashi took this time to ponder. Sitting next to Naruto was surprisingly calming. It was like the boy held so much chaos within himself, that he sucked in the turbulent energies from outside too. He said nothing as the younger ninja lay his head against his shoulder and just stared out over the blue, both feeing calm and at peace for the first in a very long time.

“You know, Inu doesn’t suit you very much.”

“Is that so?”

“I think Koinu is a much better fit.”

Naruto and Kakashi would both forever deny it to anyone else that the statement was followed by a very intense tickle match.

 

***

 

It was that same day in the dead of the night that Naruto snapped his eyes open. He stood up from his bed, and quickly made a Doton Kagebunshin to take his place. The original then went ahead and began packing his gear properly, careful to make as little sound as possible.

Assimilating Zabuza and Haku had been both a boon and a curse. While Suiton was easily malleable by its very nature and thus the easiest element to learn alongside Katon, thus allowing his to master their jutsu repertoire in one day (one day times seven hundred is seven hundred days, meaning almost two years), their ambitions were… suffocating.

Apparently, Zabuza had attempted a coup on a frankly disturbing Mizukage Yagura who had begun to simply wipe out any who wielded bloodlines. This had snowballed from the latent hate aimed towards bloodline users from the non-bloodline inhabitants of the land as a whole, the catalyst being an attack by the Kaguya clan that left the entire clan extinct. Whatever it had started as, the movement saw several bloodline ninja fleeing from Kiri under cover, losing their identities forever to retain their breath.

Assimilating Zabuza seemed to have instilled a strong sense of retribution, and such instincts were subconsciously enforced, thus a notion Naruto could not simply throw away. Since the Fuuinkusari was a bloodline that deeply engrained the target’s traits, Naruto decided that simply going through with what he had in mind would be the best way to get rid of Zabuza’s patriotism, something that was seemingly amplified by Haku’s devotion.

But before that, he had something more important to do.

Donning his gear, Naruto leapt out of the window and straight into a Makyo Hyousho that travelled up to about five hundred meters above Gatou’s hideout.

Quickly activating his Keijugan, Naruto brought his hands in a familiar cross seal, creating about hundred Hyouton Kagebunshin about him, spanning the distance across the wooden structure below him that was hidden in the treetops. Silently, he activated the Chokajugan on all of his clones, who deactivated their own Keijugan, and began to plummet towards the base at high speeds. Then he smirked, and to lengthen his moment of satisfaction, all his clones spoke as one, “Hijutsu: Tajyuu Hyoubakudan Kohai!”

The poor souls beneath him did not even have time to react. Each Naruto clone impacted the fortress with a near deafening boom, then immediately exploded into a cold miniature blizzard. Not a single scream was heard, but all who were present – be they Gatou and his men, or any prisoner they had under hold, died immediately either from the crushing weight or the flash freeze. The Hyouton chakra n the area then condensed, and wove itself into a towering kunai sculpture.

Even Naruto himself was awed by the display, but let nothing show on his face in spite of him being the sole person present. “With this power, the truth will be mine to behold.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nami no Kuni - Land of Waves  
> Takigakure (no Sato) - Village hidden in the Waterfall.  
> Hyouton: Tsurara no Mai - Ice Element: Dance of the Icicles - ORIGINAL JUTSU An Ice element jutsu that borrows from its parent nature of wind. Wind and icicles are blasted in one direction conically. Able to tear away most basic jutsus except of Fuuton and Katon.  
> Suiton - Water element.  
> Suiro - Water Prison - A water element jutsu that causes water to shape around a target, the outer sphere being harder than steel while the water filling it is thick to the point of being oppressive; an impressive capture and kill jutsu.  
> Kusari: Hogo no Tate - Chains: Shield of Protection - A jutsu that relies on chins that are controllable by the user. Wrapping the chains around the target or user to protect himself from damage is a basic move.  
> Hyousenbon - Ice senbon.  
> Kubikiribocho - Decapitating Carving Knife - A Zanpato oriented greatsword that regenerates itself when touching blood if damaged. A unique sword wielded by a member of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Shinchinin Shu.  
> Sharingan - Copy Wheel Eye - A dojutsu prevalent in stressed members of the Uchiha clan that allows them to predict and copy taijutsu, genjutsu, and ninjutsu. The eyes are also famed for giving wielders a certain proess over genjutsu, allowing them to even reverse them if need be.  
> Senbonken - Senbon fist - Haku's taijutsu fighting stance.  
> Hyouton - Ice element.  
> Zanpakuto - Soul-cutter sword.  
> Kirigakure no Jutsu - Hidden in Mist Technique - A water-element jutsu that causes a mist, the thickness of which depends on the quality of the user's chakra, to cover the target area. The user can then disappear and reappear within the technique at will.  
> Kirininaru no Jutsu - Turning Into Mist Technique - ORIGINAL JUTSU A water-element technique that uses chakra to break down the user into mist himself. The user then maintains the shapeless mist form, gaining the ability to pass through permeable objects or even seamlessly blend in with the Kirigakure no Jutsu.  
> Hyouton Hijutsu: Makyo Hyousho - Ice Style: Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals - Believed to be both an Ice element Technique and a Space-time technique. The user crates a dome of ice mirrors, of which the structure and quantity of mirrors depends on the quality of the user's chakra. When the user phases into one mirror, the image of the user appears in all the mirrors, and the user gains the capability to move at super-high speeds. Combining the false images and the speed granted to the user, fighting this technique is deadly without an advantage such as the sharingan. The user can also spawn individual mirrors to speed towards a particular target.  
> Suiton: Sensatsu Suisho - Water Style: Thousand Flying water Needles - The user condenses water from the environment into thousand senbon that can then be aimed over an area or at a target in particular.  
> Tsukuyomi - Named after a Japanese mythical figure, this Sharingan-original genjutsu allows the user to manipulate space-time in their target's perception, allowing for up to a month of illusionary time in the span of one real-time second.  
> Kotoamatsukami - Named after another Japanese mythical figure, this Sharingan-original genjutsu is capable of manipulating the target without even letting them know of its occurrence.  
> Amateratsu - Named after the Japanese sun goddess, this Sharingan-original ninjutsu technique launches black flames at the focal point of the user's eyes. These flames can't be put out by anyone or anything save the user's sharingan.  
> Dojutsu - Eye Technique.  
> Fuuton: Daitoppa - Wind Style: Great Wind Breakthrough - A wind style technique that launches a blast of wind against a target, the strength of which depends on the quality of the user's chakra.  
> -jiji - A Japanese suffix meaning 'grandfather'.  
> -ojisan - A Japanese suffix meaning 'uncle'.  
> -neechan - A Japanese suffix meaning 'Older sister'.  
> Kami - Literally meaning 'God'.  
> Kiri no Shinobigatana Shinchinin Shu - Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist - A group of seven infamous elite Kirigakure shinobi who wield one of seven signature swords, known to have passed the weapons on when the previous holder decides to step down.  
> Mizukage - Water Shadow.  
> Sanbi - Three tails.


	6. Obituary: Fear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Allow me to speculate on the chakra distributions of the bijuu.
> 
> Jyuubi has 100%u (units) of chakra.  
> 100/2 – 50u – Kurama – 9 of 9 tails.  
> 50/2 – 25u – Gyuuki – 4.5 of nine tails.  
> 25/2 – 12.5u – Chomei – 2.25 of nine tails.  
> 12.5/2 – 6.25u – Saiken – 1.125 of nine tails  
> 6.25/2 – 3.125u – kokuo – 0.5625 of nine tails.  
> 3.125/2 – 1.5625u – Goku – 0.28125 of nine tails.  
> 1.5625/2 – 0.78125u – Isobu – 0.140625 of nine tails.  
> 0.78125/2 – 0.390625u – Matatabi – 0.0703125 of nine tails.  
> 0.390625/2 – 0.1953125u – Shukaku – 0.03515625 of nine tails.  
> \- This system leaves Kurama vastly overpowered against any bijuu.  
> \- This system does not account for exactly how Kurama and Gyuuki's bijuu dama was able to equalize the others', since the others would have been obliterated.
> 
> CONVERSELY  
> 1x + 2x + 3x + 4x + 5x + 6x + 7x + 8x + 9x + 10(gedo no Mazo) = 100 (Jyuubi), where x is one tail.  
> X = 2. If t=tails,  
> 1t = 1x2 = 2  
> 2t = 2x2 = 4  
> 3t = 3x2 = 6  
> 4t = 4x3 = 8  
> 5t = 5x2 = 10  
> 6t = 6x2 = 12  
> 7t = 7x2 = 14  
> 8t = 8x2 = 16  
> 9t = 9x2 = 18  
> \- This system makes more sense, but doesn't account for the previously stated situation either, unless the other bijuu were severely weakened somehow, since 18+16=34, and 2+4+6+8+10+12+14=56.
> 
> Thus, unless I find some explanation as to how 8+9=the others, I will be proceeding with the first system in order to keep in line with my overpowered Naruto theme.

When Kakashi woke, it was to sudden shouts and exclamations from the village. Being ANBU trained, Kakashi was used to waking up at the slightest sounds, and this was a veritable racket. Imediately donning his signature mask and strapping his kunai pouch to his person, the copy-nin leapt out of the window and onto Tazuna’s roof with ease. He then froze in place when he felt faint wisps of chakra in the air… very familiar chakra. He gazed towards to source, and his jaw fell open despite the mask being in place.

Towering above the trees, a bluish-white construct that clearly looked like a kunai was extremely visible. And considering the distance at which it was, it truly had to be monstrous in size. Only one person he knew had this chakra signature, so he leapt forward and use a ninja-wire-attached-kunai to swing into Naruto’s room through his open window.

He spotted the redhead on the bed, sleeping as if dead to the world. Kakashi’s visible eye narrowed, then noted that the window was open for him to be able to swing through in the first place.

‘Naruto… what did you do?’ he thought, before leaping out of the window and into his room again. If he was going to check out the site, he needed to be prepared for any outcome, and thus needed his gear.

 

***

 

The deathly quiet that surrounded the village of Kirigakure was only accented by the near tangible cloud of despair that hung over the village. Despite the fact that there was no structural damage, the mist that hung in the air that was almost comforting at first, induced claustrophobia in many. Despite this, or maybe because of, no one noticed a simple grey-brown shape emerge from the cloudy sky. The shape came closer to the village, revealing itself to be a young redhead boy. Said boy did not stop his approach as he neared the ground, sinking deep within.

‘Reaching Kirigakure was a breeze with Zabuza’s memories and Haku’s Makyo Hyousho,’ thought Naruto, amused, ‘but Yagura’s chakra signature isn’t in the Mizukage’s tower anymore. Using a stronger Chakra ping will cause me to be detected. While identifying who is a sensor in this village would be useful in the long run, now it would be detrimental for me, especially since I don’t want to be discovered…’

To that end, he raised the cape he wore to cover his face nose-down, and made his way towards the coast.

 **“Naruto, come see me for a minute.”** The Kyuubi’s voice suddenly sounded, halting Naruto’s advance. **“I have something that may interest you.”**

Tempted to ignore the bijuu, Naruto instead sighed and stopped his advance, staying beneath the ground but drifting into a meditative state.

 

***

 

His eyes were physically closed, but they now saw a wide room, encrusted with ice. He was brought in front of the Kyuubi.

“Hai, Kyuubi-sama?”

 **“The way I see it, you’re only interesting as long as you’re strong.”** The kyuubi drawled in a bored tone. Naruto seethed, but let nothing show. **“Thus, I thought about your primary bloodline, the Uzumaki Fuinkusari, and I have come to an... epiphany.”**

“Oh?”

**“The activation of the bloodline is directly linked to the emotional centers of your brain, which is unusual. In my previous host, an Uzumaki like you, the kekkei genkai was even able to manifest outside of emotional upheaval, thus granting the user another weapon in the form of the chains. However, you seem to have inherited only the impression assimilating aspect of it. As such, manifesting the ability would take a toll on you, but the regenerative capability you seemed o have adopted from me keep it at bay. What if I were to tell you that I could grant you control of it whenever you wished?”**

Without skipping a beat, Naruto asked, “What is the catch?”

The bijuu laughed uproariously. **“Runt, life is a catch! But indeed, to be able to access that capability, you will have to give me a tiny bit more control – you’ll have to erode a portion of the seal. This will allow me to influence your emotions – inducing phantom sensations where there aren’t, and lift you into intense feelings almost instantaneously. However, I can only influence your anger, and nothing else.”**

Naruto thought on it for all but a fraction of a second. Assimilating more ninja meant precious more abilities. He could assimilate a ninja adept in the mind arts and deal with the repercussions later. For now…

In a fluid moment, Naruto walked straight up the center bar where the two ‘doors’ of the prison closed. Carefully, he ripped of a quarter of the seal from the upper right corner.

“I accept, Kyuubi-sama.” He said, voice filled with anticipation in spite of himself.

**“Very well. I’d recommend trying this out before you go on to face Isobu, as any advantage you have will be vital ton your success.”**

“Isobu?”

**“The Sanbi no Kyodaigame, Isobu, is sealed within Mizu no Yagura, the Mizukage. As all tailed beasts share a collective deeper conscious, this I know. However, as of late his node has… corrupted. It is as if something is shielding him – or separating him – from the rest of us.”**

Naruto digested that information, then narrowed his eyes at the Kyuubi. “You wish for me to assimilate him.”

 **“But of course!”** The darkness beyond the cages was suddenly pierced by a wide row of teeth grinning. **“Along with being in keeping with the orders you got from those old coots who assume they hold power over you, Isobu being eliminated and then assimilated into us will only make us both stronger! Additionally, even I wish to see what effect does your kekkei-genkai have on us tailed beasts, and whether or not possessing his Yin chakra will allow me to somehow recall my own.”**

Naruto weighed the argument. The current Mizukage was known for his Suiton, and using its reflective properties in battle. Combining those with his Hyouton… “I accept. But in return, you must promise to not influence my emotional center unless needed. If that promise breaks, Kyuubi-sama, instead of wreaking havoc externally, I will end my own life, causing you to fade from existence, however temporarily. I’m unaware if death exists for the bijuu… but I am certain you do not wish to find out.”

As Naruto left his mindscape, he only heard laughter. **“You are certainly interesting, gaki.”**

***

 

Back in Nami no Kuni, Kakashi sighed as he observed the damage. The entire region of the forest was blown apart, as if by a great force. In the frosted ground, buried alongside chunks of ice and upheaved ground itself, the Konoha Jounin could easily spot wood wreckage, also the odd limb or head here and there. And in the center of it all, the towering kunai made of ice. It didn’t seem to melt at all. The man was stunned, that Naruto could do… this. Kagebunshin were something else – they evenly divided chakra only, and returned half the amount on dispelling, so that should have been easy for Naruto. Incorporating chakra into his clones could be something he picked up from Shiro. But manipulating a relatively new element into a shape outside of a jutsu? Unless, of course, this was simply a supersized version of something in the Hunter nin’s arsenal…

Sasuke and Sakura would not be able to keep up at this rate. Naruto, at least now, could give Kakashi a run for his money if he really wanted to. How much would he progress more? This was the result of assimilating just one more kekkei-genkai… what would happen when he inevitably moved on to gather more? Would that not be harmful to him?

Sakura had yet to awaken the Kurama clan’s bloodline capability of manifesting the damage of their illusions as reality. The dangerous situation Sasuke was in yesterday should have awoken with his sharingan, but the famed eye could not copy bloodline abilities, only the basic elemental ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu. As such, Kakashi could only do so much to accelerate their training.

Aside from teaching Genins shinobi knick-knacks, Jounin instructors shouldn’t do much to teach their Genin. That was the basic rule of being a ninja, one had to do their own training on their own time and of their own volition.

However… there was something he could teach them. Usually, this was done after team members reached Chuunin rank, but he threw that notion out of the window. A shinobi must use everything in their disposal, and Kakashi would be damned if he wasn’t going to expand on what they knew.

With a resolve, he leapt away from the ground and towards Tazuna’s house as he spotted the first civilians through the trees. When they returned to the village, Kakashi would outfit them with one of the last dregs of his knowledge.

 

***

 

‘There, that one would make a good first test.’

Naruto, currently under the cover of trees, studied the man who had followed his largest chakra pulse. A blue-haired individual, garbed in a green haori and a black eyepatch currently had his eye closed and hands in a ram hand-sign.

“You can come out now. I know you’re there, Konoha nin.” The man said, raising his head. Alongside him, his two escorts tensed, reaching behind themselves to latch onto the tantos they wore.

‘What kind of an idiot gives up an advantage like that?’ Naruto scoffed. Instead of complying however, he took in a steady breath. ‘Now, Kyuubi-sama.’

**“Kukukukuku, let go, Gaki.”**

Suddenly, Naruto was filled with an unbridled amount of rage. Memories were brought to the forefront of his mind – how the village treated him, Shiro’s words, the Sandaime’s lies…

There was a sudden gurgle, and Naruto opened his eyes to see his Fuinkusari stabbing straight through the blue-haired man. With a frown of concentration, he mentally grasped the end of the chain and _tugged_.

 **“I think I can ease the flow of his abilities into you.”** The Kyuubi said, and for a while Naruto dispersed into mist. Reforming behind the two, Naruto created to Hyouton tantos and slashed, beheading the two effectively. He knelt down, and began to seep into the ground after ensuring that he was directly touching at least some bare skin on the three corpses, ragging them with him and burying them. He then emerged from the ground, and simply closed his eyes, until he heard a deep chuckle within the recesses of his mind. **“Gaki, the guy had a dojutsu!”**

“That… is strange.” Naruto frowned, turning and making his way to where sound of battle has just started. He created forty Kagebunshin that morphed into snow panthers who were easily able to hide in the mist, or melded into it outright. Preparation was key to winning, after all.  “Kirigakure isn’t known for any dojutsu, at least as of now.”

**“Hmm… His Byakugan was a spoil of battle against a pure Hyuuga, in the past Shinobi World War. Due to it being an implantation done a long while ago, the DNA strain is really weak, but I can regenerate it to its full potential with time.”**

Naruto seeped into the ground as he neared what once were the village gates without even consciously acknowledging the change. Being underground was as good as being in the air for him now. “Very well. In the meantime, I will apprehend Isobu-sama.”

**“Be careful. During the duration of assimilating this man, you will not be able to create or maintain any clones. However, I will push more chakra into you through the weakened seal to compensate. I will begin now.”**

“No clones?” Naruto asked, then sighed, as he felt the impact of several small and one large memory clusters impact his brain. “They’ll know, now.”

 

***

 

There was a sudden squawk of surprise from Sakura as ‘Naruto’ dispelled with in poof of smoke and slight pebbles.

Sakura, in the middle of performing a combined water-walking and leaf levitating exercise, lost concentration for a mere moment, yet that was enough to see her fall into the lake outside Tazuna’s house. Sasuke and Kakashi, who were discussing bomb techniques on the small wooden walkway nearby, snapped their heads towards the familiar technique dispersal sound. The Uchiha seemed surprised, if anything. The Jounin’s visible eye narrowed.

‘If that was not the original then… Naruto… where are you?’

 

***

 

Naruto shook his head and sent out a minor pulse of chakra. A hundred or so combatants walked the ground above. Judging by the fact the battle was still going, he could assume that around half of them were loyalist forces, while the others were rebels. He took a moment, planning and laying contingencies one on top of the other at a startling speed of thought, then smirked.

Remembering what the Council said about hiding his identity, Naruto unsealed his headband from the scroll he carried and used it to secure the top of the cape to his face. This would ensure the cape didn’t jostle and, at the same time, advertise his Konoha affiliation.

Then, he burst from the ground.

Several dozen Hyousenbon powered with chakra flow went flying, hitting eyes and piercing through to the brains behind with ease. Surprise could only get him so much, however, as the Loyalists immediately spotted him.

“Reinforcements!” one cried out.

“Watch out! There may be more Konoha dogs nearby!” another countered.

Naruto sneered behind the cloth that hid his face as he launched a Go Iwa-aki projectile in the middle of their little posse, scattering them from where they were probably going to launch a collaboration ninjutsu. He then let his instinctively activated Keijugan dispel, and fell straight into a Makyo Hyousho that opened up above a rather strangely dressed man while rearing back for a punch. From what he had seen as he fell into the technique, the man had long and shaggy blonde hair, and wore a sleeveless black top with black pants along with an Oinin mask. Naruto seized the opportunity of surprise and, using a Kengan on his fist, bludgeoned the man’s face into the ground, splattering it and sending gore all around. He grabbed the man’s sword – a long and narrow needle-like blade with chakra wire attached to it’s end – and wrapped it from the man’s hand, causing the attached wire which was wrapped round the same hand’s wrist to shred the limb.

He backflipped a good distance away while holding the Dragon handseal, priming chakra for a technique he quite liked the look of. As he touched the ground, a water dragon condensed out of the mist and sped towards the scattered Loyalists. He didn’t stay to make certain they were dead as he fluidly phased into the ground once more.

He sent out another chakra pulse through the rock to make sure he knew the approximate location of the people above. It was easy to know who numbered amongst his targets as the Rebels had fallen back as they noticed his arrival, and retreated together, possibly to heal up. Naruto singled out the largest concentration of ten ninja and made his way to them. Grasping the strange sword in his hand, Naruto hurled it upwards, and it effortlessly slipped through the rock and straight through a ninja from his groin through his brain. Naruto whipped it back with the attached wire and it followed smoothly.

 _‘This… this must be the Nuibari. That means the target I took out with the Kengan was Kushimaru Kuriarare.’_ Naruto mused as he shot out of the ground and dispersed into mist.

Only twenty or so ninja remained, and these were the stronger, alert ones, by the look of it. Perhaps the Suiryuudan had taken out more ninja than he believed? Shaking those thoughts off, Naruto solidified behind one ninja and whipped Nuibari through his skull, and proceeded to do the same for the rest in lightning fast succession, not giving them time to react. He experienced a bit of tunnel vision while doing this and had to morph his eyes to handle the strain. When he was done, the tugged at the chakra wire, and the corpses all came together to form a group. He thoughtlessly formed a Hyouton kunai to cut it off. Chakra wire grew with the amount of chakra fed into it, so he cared not for losing some.

He examined his handiwork, feeling not even the slightest bit winded. While looking over the destroyed field and noting, from the corner of his eye, that the rebel faction was reluctantly approaching him, he tucked Nuibari under his arm and bent down to scoop some blood off the ground with his transformed finger to paint a temporary storage seal on his right palm.

He was approached by a buxom ginger woman garbed in a deep blue dress with hair longer than strictly necessary. “Arigato, Konoha-san. Our numbers had near dwindled when that konoyaro Kushimaru decided to join the skirmish. If it wasn’t for you, I do not know how many more would have fallen.

Naruto finished painting the seal and charged it with chakra before shoving Nuibari in and standing. After a brief internal debate, he pulled down his cape from his face which caused his hitai-ate to fall to his neck, as if it were a necklace. “I have been sent in response to the air-request submitted to Konohagakure no Sato to weeks ago. The Hokage send his apologies for the delay, but I was occupied elsewhere.” Naruto lied smoothly, then lifted his head up to look at the woman. “You look battered… I am extremely glad I could make it in time.” He added in deadpan, which caused many to sweatdrop.

And indeed, the woman’s dress was tattered and torn in many places, and bruises could b seen on her face and the outside of her arms where she blocked strikes, probably. Naruto only now noticed she was flanked on her right by a rather unassuming blue-haired boy in the standard standard Kirigakure Genin uniform, but on his back there was a bandaged up weapon with a rather odd shape.

“As I said before, thank you.” The woman smiled. “I am Terumi Mei, and this is all that’s left of the shinobi part of the rebellion. This young man here is Chojuro, a newly inducted member of the Shinobigatana Shinchinin Shu… or at least… what’s left of it…”

Naruto nodded at both. “Pleasure. My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I will require an upwards of two hours to deal with the Loyalists and any contingencies they may have planned.” He then withdrew a scroll from a storage seal inside the left pocket of his pants. “This scroll contains medical supplies. Your followers may require it.”

Mei accepted the scroll with a bigger, yet more tied smile. Naruto deduced that he had won the woman’s good graces. “Arigato, Naruto-kun. Will you be requiring assistance?”

Naruto arched an eyebrow at the woman’s easy acceptance of his age – something that she noticed. “Oh please. Do not patronize me. I am well aware there are ninja around who are stronger than me but younger than Chojuro.” She waved him off, the smiled sweetly… too sweetly. “And besides, your little entrance was more than proof enough of your skill. Shame you’re so young…”

Naruto did not let any discomfort he was feeling show on his face as he ignored the Kyuubi’s laughter. “Thank you. Regardless, I will now be departing.” He said, and blurred into motion.

 

***

 

With Ao’s reconnaissance knowledge at his disposal, Naruto made quick work of the Loyalist hubs. He was now also in possession of the Shibuki, which was sealed in another temporary storage seal on his left palm, as well as a lot of monetary wealth sealed away in scrolls he’d delivered to Mei beforehand. He’d managed to assimilate the wielder of the Kabutowari as well, and aid ‘sword’ was in his grasp as he made his way underground towards the reef visible in the sea from the northern shores of Kirigakure. He was quite peeved that the great ‘Seven Ninja Swords’ could actually be classed as anything but swords. Would ‘possessed weapons’ not be more appropriate?

Regardless, the Loyalist defense was in shambles, the handful of Rebels who were patched up and able to fight were liberating the village from the scant fewer less-powerful ninja who were assigned watch over different ‘sectors’. The very atmosphere of Kiri seemed to change with ever sector liberated, as the months-long nightmare finally seemed to be nearing its end.

As he approached, and seeing no other way to scan his surroundings as assimilating the Byakugan was taking more time than he thought, he sent out a weak chakra pulse, and it impacted something very… familiar.

Naruto shot out of the ground just as something gigantic impacted it. From his stationary position in the air, he saw it to be a gray scaled tale with a rough appearance. It soon retracted into a rather young looking individual, but he wasn’t surprised with all the intel he had on him.

“Mizu no Yagura.” Naruto intoned, vice void of any emotion. Recognizing that he was best on familiar grounding to not be outclassed during this fight, he sealed away Kabutowari as well. Sure, he had indeed assimilated the wielder’s memories, but had not had a chance to personally try it out and felt it better to not rely on something he had not reality-approved yet.  “I have come to ask that you let down your foolish crusade against bloodlines.”

The voice that emanated from the boy in front of him was nearly in tone with his own. “And just who are you?”

“I… my name is unimportant.” Naruto said, tilting his head to the side. “What is important is that-“

“Bloodlines are tools.” Yagaura said, raising his right hand. With a single half-dragon hand-sign, a black staff-like weapon with a hook-like structure and flower on its one end materialized in a poof of smoke. “When tools may harm their user in accident, they must be discarded.”

“You are talking about the deaths of many. The complete neutering of raw potential that could be unmatched.”

“I care not for such trivialities. I alone am enough for Kirigakure to prevail.”

**“I need a few more minutes before you can assimilate him, gaki. Keep him busy till then.”**

“Then it is my duty to prove you wrong.” Naruto intoned, floating higher into the air.

All was silent for a few moments, while the two ninja sized each other up. Two sets of eyes met, wills indomitable, and then, just like that, the moment broke.

Naruto charged forward, intend on ending this as quickly as possible. However, he stopped midair and tensed when the Mizukage rotated his staff a full 360 degrees and materialized a perfectly circular mirror made of water.

“Suiton: Mizukagami no Jutsu!”

‘Ah, the famed mirror manipulation.’ Naruto thought, then charged when his reflection emerged as some sort of construct. He Clashed with his doppelganger, already calculating new strategies.

Meanwhile, Yagura produced three water clones, who took up a triangle formation and brandished their staves in a threatening manner. Slamming their staves on the ground, one by one they intoned, “Suiton: Suichu Hoi no jutsu (Encircling water pillars)! Suiton: Suijinheki! Suiton: Mizu Kekkai no jutsu (Water barrier)!”

While Naruto dodged the attacks of his doppelganger, he spotted one clone melting into a near spherical water dome, one clone transforming into a circular wall of water, and another dispersing into eight pillars of water than began encircling the outer barrier.

**“Deal with this pathetic excuse of yourself and break those protections! He’s gathering a lot of chakra, almost half of what Isobu has! You won’t be able to deal with a jutsu like that without delaying everything significantly!”**

Naruto growled, mentally seething. This doppelganger knew all his jutsus and movements, and dealing with it was becoming a real headache. Unless he developed a new jutsu…

Naruto walked through all the ideas he had so far. With his new Hyouton, had require a lot of water…

Well, he _was_ on the shores of the sea after all.

He broke off mid-combo and gave an acute kick to the doppelganger’s midsection, but wasn’t able to dispel it. In any case, he shushined to a few hundred meters into the sea, and stood upon the water. Being the first time he was creating and then utilizing a new jutsu in combat at once, he attempted to pour every ounce of his concentration into the formation of this new jutsu.

Before he could complete it however, he heard a deeper voice intone, “ **Suiton: Hyaku Suiryuukagami no Mai!** (Dance of a hundred reflective water dragons)”

His eyes snapped open, concentration falling short. His opponent was now cloaked in familiar crimson bijuu chakra with two tails behind him. The fluctuations that the cloak induced in his network must have interfered with his previous jutsu, for the doppelganger had dispelled. The protections remained however, and no further changes in the surroundings were made.

When he felt shifting behind him however, he turned, gasped, and took a reflexive step back, for the gazes of a hundred reflective water dragons were trained on him from the ocean.

 **“Hajime!”** Yagura intoned, and himself leapt forward, and with him the water around him as well.

Naruto poured a lot of chakra into his limbs to dodge, and oh boy, dodge he had to. For every time one of the dragons reflected him, another doppelganger emerged. Now he knew why Yagura had allowed the other to dispel. After all, now he had several more! Naruto dodged to the best of his ability, but accumulated a lot of cuts from Hyouken and bruises from Kengan.

**“Naruto! I have finished catalyzing the Byakugan, what was taking a majority of the time. Activate it now! Your shadow clones are now available, and in another few minutes, you may assimilate him!”**

Naruto faltered in dodging while the flood of information on the Byakugan and the ability itself overwhelmed his mind. Normally, implanted users do not have much information on their inductions, but Kurama had managed to snag the DNA of the pure Hyuuga from the bloodline impression from the eye, and was thus able to procure a Main House Hyuuga’s knowledge.

The combined force of a Doppelganger’s Iwakami no Unarigoe and the crushing force of three dragons would have been enough to crush his bones. However, now armed wth Hyuuga techniques, Naruto simply spun midair and sent out chakra from all his tenketsu, creating a sphere of pure rotating chakra using the Hakkeshou Kaiten.

He closed his eyes, and sent chakra to them.

When they next opened, the sclera was black, with pale orange irises. The veins on the outer sides of his eyes were bulging in the normal Hyuuga manner.

He catalogued the doppelgangers, and realized that if he simply didn’t let his reflection linger long enough on the dragons, there would be no doppelganger to fight at all. Overloading his Keijugan with Kyuubi’s chakra, he moved backwards so fast that one would think he was never there in the first place.

“You are within the field of my Hakke.” He whispered, and a hundred shadow clones appeared around him, falling into an approximate midair variant of the Jyuuken stance.

They all then shot forwards.

“Hakke Niishou!

Yonshou!

Hachishou!

Juu Rokushou!

Sanju Niishou!

Rokuju Yonshou!

Hyakku Niju Hachishou!

Hakke Sanbyaku Goju Rokushou!” They all proclaimed as one.

For a moment, everything was still, then the doppelgangers and dragons all dispersed into water and fell into the sea below.

Naruto’s clones vanished, but the boy in question was far from being even lightly winded.

Yagura, who was also hit twice by the set, collapsed to one knee, completely free of bijuu chakra. Normally, even a flicker of bijuu chakra would be enough to reopen one’s tenketsu, albeit temporarily and painfully, but Yagura had expended a lot of Isobu’s chakra. As such, the man was left with a bare sliver of Isobu’s power, only enough for…

Suddenly, he was enveloped in a gigantic sphere of crimson chakra.

‘Anytime now, Kyuubii-sama!’ Naruto mentally growled, creating five hundred kagebunshin.

 **‘I need thirty more seconds, gaki!’** The Kyuubi answered, voice sounding … haggard. **‘I’m giving you more of my chakra, use it to hold him off!’**

Feeling the sudden influx of Kyuubi’s chakra, Naruto could barely even feel his eyes changing, the near transparent pale orange pupil of his mutated Byakugan transforming into black slits. Instead, he made the kage bunshin cross-seal again, transferring some Hyouton chakra into his clones, who then began to transform into ravens. This happened in the span of two seconds.

The original Naruto closed his eyes in concentration as the ravens sped forth towards the sphere of chakra, intent on killing Yagura before it exploded, Sanbi be damned. The raven clones all morphed into ice midflight using their hyouton chakra in combination with his Mofuku bloodline, mad possible with the addition of Kyuubi’s chakra. The ravens then seemed to freeze midflight, before glowing.

“Hijutsu: Hyouton : Hyouhane Danmaku!”

The ravens suddenly exploded in a shower of feathers. Naruto, using the Byakugan that each raven possessed, was able to direct his feathers appropriately into the spiraling sphere of malevolent chakra to impact Yagura, the knowledge of the Hakkeshou Kaiten helping him tertiarily.

The sphere slowed, halted, and then dispersed, showing a blood-soaked Yagura. The transformation was incomplete, but he had the skin color of Isobu with the same right eye. Additionally, three scaled tails laid limp on the ground behind him.

Seemingly shocked, the Yondaime Mizukage fell to the ground on one knee, driving several ice needle-like feathers deeper into his leg.

**‘Now, gaki!’**

A single chain shot out of Naruto’s outstretched hand, and sped right through the stomach of the Yondaime Mizukage. Another shout out of his left, and shot through right the small space between his brows.

**‘The added presence of Isobu will see you knocked out for quite a while. As soon as you finish pulling, phase back to where you think you will be safe. You will awaken mentally when I have dealt with the giant turtle.’**

Mentally nodding, Naruto braced himself, and pulled. At the ends of the chain, along with Yagura’s white silhouette, was another blood-red silhouette of a similar shape. When it reached Naruto, he gasped and coughed, getting the impression, he was drowning.

**‘I won’t be able to hold back the unconsciousness for long, and I don’t fancy dying. People are approaching, so leave now!’**

Naruto roared with the effort it took to create a Makyo Hyousho, and fell into it, almost passing out in the dimension in between. Not knowing what would happen if he were to sleep here, he expended all of his effort into creating another mirror into Tazuna’s house, but instead opened it to the forest nearby.

The last thing he remembered seeing was a flash of untidy white hair and a red eye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sanbi no Kyodaigame - Three-tailed Great Turtle.  
> Byakugan - All-seeing White Eye - A dominant trait of the Hyuuga clan, this dojutsu allows a 360 * 360 field of vision, except for one rear blindspot below the neck and above the midpoint of the vertebrae. The distance these eyes can see vary with a combination of experience and eye potency. The eye also allows users to see chakra and chakra points, and notable users can also see the tenketsu of targets.  
> Tenketsu - Opening points in the chakra network used to expel chakra for jutsus and shinobi techniques alike.  
> Mizu no Yagura - Yagura of the waters.  
> Suiton: Mizukagami no jutsu - Water Style: Water Mirror Technique - A technique that uses water to create a circular mirror, using light reflections and careful water manipulation to expel a doppelganger of the target that they reflect. The doppelgangers emerge with all of the target's capabilities.  
> Suiton: Suichu Hoi no Jutsu - Water Style: Encircling Water Pillars - A defensive water style technique that causes a number of revolving water pillars to rise around the user. The revolving pillars converged in the direction of a jutsu attack to block it off.  
> Suiton: Mizu Kekkai no Jutsu - Water Style: Water Barrier - A defensive water style technique that creates an impenetrable hollow water sphere around the user.  
> Suiton: Hyaku Suiryuukagami no Mai - Water Style: Dance of a Hundred Reflective Water Dragons - ORIGINAL JUTSU A mass-scale water jutsu that combines Suiryuu and Mizukagami. Essentially, it creates a hundred reflective water dragons that create doppelgangers of the target(s) with the original's techniques; except bloodline-limits. Additionally, the dragons themselves can be used as blunt force projectiles or constrictions. Size of the water dragons can vary.  
> Hakkeshou Kaiten - Eight Trigrams Palm Heavenly Spin (Rotation) - A Hyuuga clan hijutsu that relies on the user's capability to send out chakra from all of their tenketsu. Expelling chakra thusly, the user spins on their heel rapidly, using centrifugal force to create a sphere or dome of pure tangible chakra that can repel most, if not all, attacks.  
> Hakke - Eight Trigrams.  
> Niishou - Two palms.  
> Yonshou - Four palms.  
> Hachishou - Eight palms.  
> Juu Rokushou - Sixteen palms.  
> Sanju Nishou - Thirty two palms.  
> Rokujuyounshou - Sixty four palms.  
> Hyakku NIju Hachishou - One hundred and twenty eight palms.  
> Sanbyaku Goju Rokushou - Three hundred and fifty six palms.  
> Hijutsu: Hyouton: Hyouhane Danmaku - Secret Technique: Ice Style: Ice Feather Barrage - ORIGINAL JUTSU Utilising Hyouton and the Mofuku bloodline under the Kyuubi's influence, Naruto is able to create ice element Ravens that can explode in a controlled or spherical shower of razor sharp chakra-enhanced feathers. He can control the way in which these feathers fly.


	7. Obituary: Anonymity

When Naruto awoke, mentally, at least, he was in a familiar chamber. Present in front of the Kyuubi’s seal, he stood from his kneeling position.

 **“Finally.”** The Kyuubii sighed, emerging from the darkness. “ **I was beginning to believe the process of my ‘death’ would begin any moment.”** He said, with a smirk.

“Your faith in me is astounding.” Naruto deadpanned, then noted the being with a critical eye. Kyuubi’s furr had dulled, taking on a grayish tinge, and spike-like protrusions were visible from his shoulders down to his front paw/hands, along his spine, and on his tails. “I believe you have assimilated Isobu?”

The being grinned. **“Who would have thought the bijuu can truly die in the sense of the word? Indeed, Isobu is no more. Only his chakra, n all it’s pathetic nature, is within me. As you can see, it has brought about minor changes in my appearance – although not as painful a s the first transformation.”**

Naruto would have winced if he felt guilty. He did not. “Was absorbing his impression the reason you deemed it appropriate for me to be knocked out?”

 **“If you recall, your first assimilations saw you knocked out as well.”** Kyuubi pointed out. **“While I can act as a buffer and filter the memories and abilities you gain from assimilating a human, a bijuu is a different story entirely. While his chakra was a mere insignificant spec in comparison to mine, Isobu’s memories and thoughts were… difficult to erase.”**

Naruto nodded. “As should be expected. Even the most seemingly insignificant existence bears some eight of credibility after all.”

**“I never took you for being so philosophical.”**

“Being the container of a thousand-year-old demon does that to you. Why have I not noticed the influx of Isobu’s memories, and only Yagura’s?”

**“We bijuu have secrets of our own, gaki. Do not forget that. However, something I saw in the other brat’s memories troubles me greatly.”**

“The Sharingan. Why is it that you hate that dojutsu so much, Kyuubi-sama?”

The supposed ‘demon’ fox regarded him in contemplation, before speaking clearly. **“By releasing a portion of your seal, you have exhibited trust, in spite of what you believe in, those ‘assurances’. Nevertheless, whatever you see it as, I believe it only fair in this… agreement that I share some trust of my own.”**

Naruto plopped of the freezing-cold damp ground in a gesture of granting one’s full attention.

**“On the day you were born, your mother, and my previous host, Uzumaki Kushina, underwent great pain, obviously. Pain, especially one as… intimate and internalized as one of childbirth, weakens any Jinchuuriki seal. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the very same masked man you remember from Yagura’s memories took control over me using the genjutsu prowess of the Sharingan, bolstered by the fact that he had awakened a higher version. He claimed himself to be Uchiha Madara, but I have been under that man’s control before, and both the governing sensation and the chakra signature felt not the same.”**

Naruto, face expressionless, closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. While the Kyuubi could feel the roiling emotions of his jinchuuriki through the weakened portion of the seal, he refrained from commenting on it.

“Is there any way to provide you a resistance to being controlled by the Sharingan?”

To say the Kyuubi would be surprised would be like saying ‘the ocean is big’ – a massive understatement. **“Why would you care for that? We can negate each other’s genjutsu problem if and when it crops up.”**

“I dislike leaving lose ends.” Naruto stated, but both of them knew it was a lie.

**“The only counter to a Sharingan is another Sharingan. And the last of those are beyond your reach. One, for Uchiha Sasuke is your comrade, and you aren’t powerful enough to take on the entire leaf village and win, especially with certain talented individuals you probably know about. The second, because even with all your abilities, Uchiha Itachi is armed with a weapon that will not kill, but seal away your prowess entirely, leaving you aching, vulnerable, and incapable of carrying out your dream. Addtionally, it may also seal me away.”**

“There is another. Shiro’s memories tell us of an individual named Danzo, who traded with Orochimaru for a prosthetic hand made from the cells of the Shodaime Hokage to implant multiple Sharingan.”

**“I do not know how Senju DNA would interact with my presence, since the very element of Mokuton seeks to bind and restrain any bijuu chakra. Be wary, and keep this Danzo as a last resort. Your primary goal should be to become stronger and eventually defeat Uchiha Itachi.”**

“How does one counter a weapon that can seal anything?”

**“With a weapon that penetrates anything.”**

“You are referring to Orochimaru’s Kusanagi.”

**“That blade is as much his as the water in the sea belongs to you. Its previous holder is dead, but his soul lives on. Treat it with respect.”**

“Very well. The Kusanagi no Tsurugi. Defeating the orochi-senin will not be an easy task.”

 **“Which is why you must get stronger.”** The bijuu pointed out.

“I will attempt to gather as many unique traits as possible, and endeavor to master their use in combat.”

 **“That will not be enough.”** The fox mused aloud, then voiced his thoughts further. **“I believe you must foray into the possibility of signing a summoning contract. While I do possess one, its costs and uses are much more than you can handle at the moment. Instead, I will have you ask your leader for the hand-sign combination that reveals one’s most suited contract, should they have the aptitude for it. I certainly sense the capability in you, but I know not the combination.”**

Naruto nodded. “Very well. Will the possibility of summoning alone be enough to catapault me to a higher level?”

The Kyuubi shook its head. **“It’s not the summoning itself, but the connection you must observe. When the first contracts were forged, the resident of the realm giving into a resident of your realm educated the user on their realm’s techniques. The first recorded example amongst your people is your Shodaime Hokage, who forged a contract with beings called ‘Ents’ from a realm called ‘Middle earth’, who influence and ‘sage mode’ he used in his Mokuton Hijutsu: Shinsu Senju. However, he refrained from summoning them due to their wish not to set foot in a world which had my type of chakra, for an inconceivable reason. Such otherworldly powers may either complement or be in opposition to your chakra coils, so it’s mostly on luck.”**

Naruto nodded, then felt his mind getting darker around him.

**“Someone is waking you up, gaki. Remember, obtain the hand-sign sequence before long.”**

 

***

 

Naruto’s eyes awoke to a now familiar wooden ceiling. Sakura’s hands were on his shoulder, lightly nudging him. The two gauntlets he’d tossed her hung from a new sheath made of something white at her sides, so she had simply to slip her hands in and draw them out. He slowly made to sit without a sound, and spotted Sasuke sitting in a chair nearby, and Kakashi leaning against the door, which was closed. Once again, he noticed, he was rendered down to his underwear, and the abused remains of his pants were on the chair, mended and folded. His cape was washed and folded too, but it was too tattered to mend. Naruto attempted to visualize Tsunami, Tazuna’s daughter, holding the cloth and attempting to decide where to start stitching it back together before giving up entirely. He felt the mildest stirrings of humor in his gut but squashed it down.

 **“Feeling amused does not make you an incapable ninja, kit.”** Kyuubi commented offhandedly.

Naruto ignored the bijuu, as well as his teammates who were looking at him in askance. Kakashi’s face was closed off, and but the young Uzumaki could feel the storm brewing underneath. He instead reached for one of the storage scrolls stacked next to his pants, and unsealed it. Nuibari, Shibuki, and Kabutowari appeared in a plume of smoke.

_‘Of course… the temporary seals… if they wiped me down with a wet towel, the weapons would be lost forever. Kakashi must have been the one to draw them out… what a relief.’_

He sealed them back in and unsealed the contents of one of the other two scrolls, revealing a perfect replica of his standard Genin outfit. He shrugged his clothes on and fastened his sandals before standing, sighing, and turning to his sensei.

“Ask me nothing and I will tell you no lies.” He stated in monotone.

Sakura looked at him incredulously, Sasuke actually smirked, and Kakashi sighed. “Sasuke, Sakura, Tazuna-san will be leaving to work on the bridge in a few minutes. You two are on guard duty today. Get to it.”

Sasuke stood and walked off with only a well-veiled concerned glance behind him. Sakura was clearly torn, debating whether to protest or acquiesce, but at the looks she was getting from both Naruto and her sensei, she nodded hesitantly and left.

Kakashi closed the door behind him and dug around his ninja tool pouch for something. He withdrew a seal tag and slapped it on the door, and it flared. A linear sealing matrix emerged and wrapped around the walls of the full room, actually even forcing the window shut, and then spread to form a shimmering, almost unnoticeable green tinge to the walls. Naruto correctly identified it as a Class B privacy seal.

The Jounin then turned to his student, and began to walk closer. “Where were you yesterday?”

“Classified.” Naruto rapped back, eyeing Kakashi’s form warily. He knew the man wouldn’t attack, but somehow the situation was weaving knots of anticipation from his stomach.

“What were you doing?” Kakashi maintained the same professional tone.

“Classified.” The interrogatee gave away not expression.

“Were you at least in the country?” The grey-haired man asked, now less than a hand’s length away.

“Classified.” Naruto replied, moving away.

“Were you on an assassination, acquisition, or espionage mission independently assigned from the Hokage?” the older asked, having successfully backed Naruto into the wall.

“Classified.” Naruto replied again, fearlessly staring into Kakashi’s lone visible eye.

They maintained the stare for quite a while. Finally, Kakashi broke the silence. “Are you aware that insubordination is grounds for court-marshalling and discharge from the shinobi force, depending on the seriousness of the crime?”

“I’m well aware.” Naruto retorted, and made to walk around the man, only for him to be grabbed and pushed back against the wall.

“Give me something to work with here.” The Jounin snapped. “You vanish for the entire day, and I find you exhausted in the forest, clothes in tatters. You have three Legendary Seven Swords sealed in temporary storage seals crafted on the palms of your hands – seals made with blood _not your own_. You-“

“I am not allowed to divulge information.” Was the replied calm intonement, in complete contrast to the turmoil the speaker was feeling. “Leave it be.”

“I am your commanding officer.” Kakashi pointed out in a clipped tone.

“And my orders come from higher up than you.” The redhead responded in kind.

Kakashi kept his gaze trained for a while, then sighed, and released his charge. “Do not do so again.”

“Of course.” Naruto replied smoothly. He then watched as Kakashi walked to the door and deactivated the seal, then pocketed it.

“I’ll be watching from the rooftop. You’ll be inside. Do not slack off.” The Jounin near-grumbled. “Even if you took care of Gatou, there may be others whose best interests will be served if the bridge isn’t complete. Be aware of your surroundings.” Then he walked out of the room.

Naruto counted to thirty, then created a Hyouton Kagebunshin as he slipped backwards into a Makyo Hyousho to appear in the air above Kirigakure. He took a moment to analyze the village. The mist still hung in the air, but it was much less oppressing and even a little endearing. Sounds of construction were echoing about, and a few cries. Of course, there would be no celebration until families were reunited and the dead accounted for… by which time there might just be no celebratory spirit left.

Naruto shrugged, uncaring. And instead activated his Byakugan to scan for Mei. He found her in the largest standing building, currently discussing something with four others. He slipped sideways into another Makyo Hyousho to step out in front of the door and rapped on it, bypassing some armed shinobi, perhaps bodyguards?

“Enter.” Her voce emanated from within.

All voices ceased as he stepped in and stood in front of the table the five were seated at. “Mei-san. I have come to return the three of the Seven Legendary Swords I have in my possession, as well as receive a note of satisfaction from you to deliver to the Hokage.” He then withdrew the scroll and tossed it at her.

“It’s Mizukage now, Uzumaki-san.” Mei beamed, catching the flung object effortlessly. “Additionally, I would like to extend my gratitude towards you personally in the form of offering you one of them. Without you, Kirigakure would be a much smaller village than it is now by the time the war would have ended.” She replied, with a playful smirk. Then, she tossed the scroll with an extremely strong flick that sent it hurtling at harmful speeds.

To his credit Naruto did not even twitch as his head shot out to snag it from the air. He studied her for a moment before speaking. “I appreciate the gesture, Mizukage-sama, but I must stress that my village be granted monetary recompense. I would choose that over personal gain.

One of the two old women at her side raised an impressed eyebrow. One of the two men sighed while the other grinned. And lastly… Chojuro seemed to be stunned. “You… you would give up the chance to get such a powerful weapon if it meant your village gained something instead?”

Naruto sighed both in exasperation as well as self-loathing on what he was going to say; however, he _did_ have an image to keep up, after all. “My village is more important to me than my very life. I would sacrifice myself in a heartbeat if it meant that Konoha lived to see another day.”

Not.

Kyuubi was mocking disgusted sounds in his mind. Naruto actually agreed with the sentiment.

“No handsome young man such as yourself should have to die.” Mei smiled seductively, then dropped the act and smiled more naturally. “But be rest assured, your village will be compensated. In fact, I’ll give you the revised treaties right now, along with the note of satisfaction. It was revised the first thing this morning.”

Naruto nodded and knelt on the floor, unfurling the scroll and unsealing the swords from within. He hesitated. He had found the Nuibari extremely easy and efficient to use, but that was perhaps a bit of the Fuuinkusari instinct bleeding over. On the other hand, he hand assimilated the memories of the user of another sword, so he knew the nuances of the Kabutowari in and out. And the Shibuki was honestly not his cup of tea. In fact, it was little more than an exploding scroll attached to a sword.

He realized then and there than he’d not be able to properly battle with any of them. He closed his eyes, and thought on the matter. What about his team? Sasuke had the Kiba, already, so he was out of the equation. Wait… wasn’t the Kubikiribocho at their disposal as well? Yes, they’d sealed it away after burning Zabuza’s and Haku’s corpses, his clone had been informed the day prior. It was in Kakashi’s possession at the moment. Then… which one would suit Sakura best?

“If I take a sword, how will you reform the Kiri no Shinobigatana Shinchinin Shu?” Naruto asked, looking up to raise an eyebrow at the new Mizukage.

“We have our means.” She answered cryptically. “Besides, having the same seven swords every generation is making the group quite… predictable. Things are going to change around here, Uzumaki-san.”

Naruto nodded, then removed the Nuibari from its sealing matrix and sealed the other two back in, and tossing the scroll back at Mei. He caught another, one sealed with the wax imprint of the Kirigakure no Sato symbol.

“That, would be your satisfaction note.” Mei jerked her chin towards towards the scroll. “In spite of us finding ourselves in a difficult situation, we’ve sealed the necessary amount within, as a gesture of goodwill, to be delivered immediately, or rather, as soon as possible.”

“Arigato, Mizukage-sama.” Naruto bowed, nodded at the remaining councilors, before turning to walk back out.

“Oh, and Uzumaki-san?” Mei called out.

Naruto paused, and abruptly caught the object thrown at him. It turned out to be a book.

“You may want to check the updated copy of the bingo book.” She said, tone sheepish. “Apparently, we still have spies, which would be a logical conclusion anyway, given the village’s previous state of turmoil.”

Naruto levelled a look at her from the corner of his eyes, getting the secret message. He still wasn’t truly trusted as an ally of Kiri, but he was getting there. He then proceeded to walk out, shutting the door behind him as he stepped into a Makyo Hyousho that led into the foyer of the Hokage Tower.

 

***

 

“Commence, Genin Uzumaki.” Hiruzen spoke, voice frigid. No, he had definitely not liked what Naruto had been ordered to do, but he had to desist. The Ikenban could overrule the Hokage at times… he’d just have to avenge the boy by beating Danzo at poker more.

“Mission successful, Hokage-sama, Ikenban-sama. All mission objectives were completed within the given parameters.” Naruto spoke from his kneeling position in front of them. “With your permission, I will report.”

“Elaborate.” Danzo ordered.

Naruto nodded. “On our journey out from Konoha, Team 7 was confronted by a cell headed by Momochi Zabuza. During the skirmish, Uchiha Sasuke awoke his Shringan. It should be noted that the eye had three tomoe, whch meant that he was subconsciously repressing it even after awakening it beforehand.”

“That could be possible.” Koharu mused. “The brat could have awoken it during the massacre, but wanting to forget about it, he repressed the memory of awakening it as well. Continue.”

“During the battle, I was able to assimilate the DNA of Momochi Zabuza and Yuuki Haku. The latter bore the Hyouton. He was an orphan who was rescued from Kiri by Zabuza on his way out from his attempt on Yagura’s life during the initial days of the bloodline purge.”

“Describe the Hyouton.” Utatane asked. “Are there any abilities of note?”

“The Hyouton is a combination of lesser amounts of Fuuton and greater amounts of Suiton, roughly in a 2:7 ratio. It allows me to form ice constructs out of air and the limited moisture within, and control them at will. While most of the jutsu I assimilated and practiced is generic to the other five basic elements, the Hyouton Hijutsu: Makyo Hyousho is a peculiar one. I believe it to be a Jikukan ninjutsu.”

“Why?” Hiruzen inquired, already dreading the answer.

“Allow me to demonstrate.” Naruto requested, then reached his hand outwards. A Makyo Hyousho formed and his hands seemed to disappear in it, then emerged with a lamp from the Ichiraku ramen stand. “It allows me to travel to any place I have memory of. Additionally, the space in between is much like another dimension itself, one of pure dull blue expanse. It allows me to store any object, and it is placed under stasis. No time will pass for the object.”

All the four other people in the room widened their eyes. It seemed like a wonderful gift to be true.

“Resume.” Hiruzen said, albeit shakily.

“When I awoke, only two days had passed. In order not to let an advantage pass, I trained in their techniques. The Kubikiribocho lies with Hatake-sensei, but Zabuza’s Kirininaru no jutsu and Haku’s other Hyouton ninjutsu interested me greatly. When I deemed myself proficient enough, I destroyed Gato and his hideout and used the hijutsu to appear in Kirigakure. There, assimilated the Byakugan from a resident who had it implanted. I dealt with the body to ensure no further transplants. I then dealt with all of the rebel outposts, befriending the now-Mizukage, Terumi Mei, in the process, although she maintains a respectable suspicion even now. I then battled with the Sanbi Jinchuuriki, and assimilated him.”

“Describe the experience.” Danzo spoke. He didn’t even _know_ Kirigakure had a Byakugan in their possession. His agent in Kiri would pay.

“Assimilating the Sanbi knocked me out for approximately twelve hours. The bijuu’s chakra fused with Kyuubi-sama’s, since his is greater. Kyuubi-sama had already been altered because of the Hyouton I assimilated, and yet this change was not even half as obvious. The sanbi, for all intents and purposes, had perished.” Naruto smiled a smile that chilled them to the bone.

“Very well. Your performance on this mission has been nothing short of exemplary.” Hiruzen commented, beaming. He then withdrew a scroll and tossed it to Naruto, who caught it. “This scroll contains five A-rank jutsu, one from each element. Use them well.”

“I will use them to ensure Konoha’s safety.” Naruto countered, firm in voice but reeling within his mind.

“As you should.” Utatane said, but this time it was with a smile.

“Dismssed.” Hiruzen growled. Oh, Danzo was so getting it this time!

He was just about to say as much when something caught his attention. In front of him was a Bingo book, opened to the S-rank section. As he read the entry, he paled.

 

_‘Name: Uzumaki Naruto_

_Title: Konohagakure no Akuma._

_Rank: S-rank._

_Age: 13_

_Affiliation: Konoha_

_Eye Color: Cerulean Blue._

_Identifying features: Unique shade of crimson hair, three whisker marks on each cheek, unnaturally pale skin._

_Height: 157cm._

_Skill Ranks: Ninjutsu – SSS, Genjutsu – N/A, Taijutsu – S, Kenjutsu – N/A, Fuinjutsu – N/A, Bukijutsu – N/A._

_Notes: Wielder of the Uzumaki Fuinkusari.  Wielder of the Hyouton. Past information on the target is classified._

_Bio: In a direct confrontation, the target was able to beat and absorb the Yondaime Mizukage, Mizu no Yagura, with little effort. Fate of the Sanbi unknown. Showing proficiency in Hyouton and Doton techniques, the target is noted to be incredibly difficult to beat._

_Bounties: Kumogakure – 1000000 ryo Alive or Dead. Iwagakure – 200000 Dead, 500000 Alive._

_Conclusion: Flee on sight.’_

 

***

 

Naruto appeared back in the house. He sighed in relief to note that his clone was still practicing raw Hyouton manipulation, and, on activating the Byakugan he learned, that Kakashi was still on the roof with his face buried in an Icha Icha. He dispersed his clone, and took its place on the bed, crossing his legs and falling into a meditation. In front of him, Hyouton chakra condensed and he began experimenting. The road to power had no end, after all.

Soon, however, he found himself accompanying Tsunami, Tazuna’s daughter, to the city proper on a grocery run. The woman seemed sheepish about the fact that even though someone had ended Gato, the ninja still insisted on protecting the family.

“I’m sorry, Naruto-kun, but…”

“It is of no consequence, Tsunami-san.” Naruto drawled. “Hatake-sensei is right. Just because Gato is dead, is does not mean there may b no others that will not stand to gain from the incompletion of the bridge. It is only our duty.”

Tsunami smiled and turned a wistful gaze on the sight around her. Naruto could already see everything with the Byakugan activated under his goggles. Broken, run down roughly constructed houses, famished citizens…

Pathetic.

He was getting really annoyed at the sight itself.

“Excuse me, Tsunami-san. Kindly stand back.” He finally said, patience snapping.

“Na- Naruto-kun?” Tsunami stammered.

“Relax. There is no attack, but … I cannot bear to see such sadness around me.” He said. Obviously, he meant it in a completely different sense that tsunami probably interpreted it.

He knelt on the ground and formed a snake seal, then slammed his hands on the ground. Doton chakra pulsed around him in a glowing brown dance, then seeped into the ground and swept outwards.

The citizens around him began to cry out in surprise as buildings made of earth began to emerge from the ground. Naruto kept on pumping chakra until Tazuna’s house, which was a good kilometer or so away from the main village, lied just a few meters away from the last building.

“There.” He sighed, standing. That had not taken a lot of chakra at all…. Hm…. “Now, perhaps, the village will be happier.”

Everyone stood stock still, mouths gaping. The buildings had clearly been constructed with the meagre amount of natural vegetation in mind, and some trees that were in the way had simply been uprooted and lay aside the buildings that now took their place. That would give them more food for fires. And more buildings meant that the few who had homes would not have to host the almost hundred times others who had none.

They all erupted n celebration.


	8. Obituary: Delusions

 “I am not the one seeking an explanation, Naruto-kun.” Hiruzen reminded him. “The council is-“

“The council can find itself another scapegoat. I was doing what I believed was best for myself, and in turn, the village.” Naruto interrupted. “There is another matter I would like to bring to your attention – the identity of my parents.”

Of course, after they returned from Nami no Kuni with a successful mission, the civilian and some shinobi council members took offense to what Naruto was ordered to do. Under the scrutiny, the Ikenban had simply denied any involvement. Not that Naruto faulted them for it. However, th headache that Hiruzen and Kakashi were giving him… it was almost annoying.

Both elder men stiffened.

“I am aware that Uzumaki Kushina was my birth-mother. I formally demand her will be read, and the identity of my father.” Naruto said, standing. Internally, he thanked the Kyuubi for letting him known the truth.

“I… but Naruto-kun, I don’t-“

“I am very well aware you know who my father is, Hokage-sama.” Naruto said. Uncaring of propriety, he slid out of his pajamas, and made way to his wardrobe for his clothes. Hey, if they had the audacity to barge in to his home, they could deal.

The Hokage had averted his eyes, though Kakashi hadn’t. After a few moments had passed, and Naruto was dressed, Hiruzen spoke, “Naruto-kun, it is not safe for you if I publicize just who your father is.”

Naruto and Kakashi both turned to give Hiruzen a deadpan stare.

“That… that is to say-“

“I have an inkling of who my father can be.” Naruto admitted, turning to stare out of his window at the Hokage monument. “Jinchuuriki are best chosen close to the kage’s family, in order to strengthen their loyalty to their village. Uzumaki Kushina was a Jinchuuriki, and there is only one eligible entryway into the ruling family during her time, since the Yondaime was an orphan. One would truly be a fool not to notice the resemblance I share with him. What does that say about your village then? They look at my father’s face every day, multiple times a day, yet fail to make the connection. How would my father react in the afterlife, knowing you are purposely keeping his legacy from me?”

Hiruzen pulled his pipe out of his mouth and rubbed his eyes with his other hand. “Naruto, the political repercussions-“

“I care not for your village politics, Hokage-sama.” Naruto scoffed, turning around. “I wish to formally demand that the Yondaime Hokage’s will be read publicly.”

“Naruto-“

“This is not a debate.” Naruto said, crossing his arms. “While I hold little love for them, they _were_ my parents, and it is well within my rights to ask that their wills be carried out and their treasures bequeathed to me in recompense for the treatment I have suffered under _your_ rule. If my… requests… are not seen to, I will have no choice but to approach the Daimyo of HI no Kuni.”

Hiruzen, who had flinched multiple times during Naruto’s speech, finally heaved a sigh at the end. “Very well. I will summon the council at the earliest-“

“Now, Hokage-sama.” Naruto insisted. “They wish for answers, I will give it to them. My mother’s Will should be read during the council meet, and my father’s over the village-wide radio broadcast. Immediately thereafter.”

Hiruzen gazed at the boy he had failed, and simply walked out of the room.

“That was harsh, Naruto-kun.” Kakashi said, but there was no reprimand in his voice. “Still, I believe it is something he deserves.”

Naruto’s eyes zeroed in on Kakashi’s single visible one. Walking closer, he asked, “Your body language screamed betrayal before I explicitly stated the reason why I went after the Yondaime Mizukage. Why?”

Kakashi sighed. “I believed you were displaying your powers in order to intimidate-“

“You are lying.” Naruto said, coming to a stop in front of Kakashi.

“I was worried.” Kakashi admitted finally with a sigh, eyes boring into Naruto’s. “I was worried that fighting Yagura and assimilating him had had adverse effects.”

Naruto was silent, then slowly reached up with one hand. Kakashi caught his Naruto’s hand before it could reach his mask.

“Naruto?”

The boy in question remained silent, and simply reached forward, uncaring of Kakashi’s hand which was more of a gentle touch than a restraint, and pulled his mask down to his neck. He then reached upwards and pushed the older man’s headband up to get an unobstructed view of his face.

“Arigatou, Koinu.” Naruto whispered, then stood on his tiptoes and pressed a chaste kiss to Kakashi’s lips.

The man froze, before his brain forced him into action. He grabbed Naruto’s waist and deepened the gesture, applying some force from his own side.

They pulled away from the tender moment a few minutes later, and just in time, since an Anbu was suddenly perched on the windowsill.

“The Hokage requests your presence, Naruto-san.” The man wearing a mantis mask said.

Naruto sighed and stepped away from Kakashi’s embrace. The ANBU respectfully averted his gaze when Kakashi made way to fix his mask, but Naruto’s hand froze him.

“Allow me to say this, Koinu.” Naruto whispered. “Your father was a hero. Money and reputation mean little in the long run if your life in extinguished in the first place. If these blind sheep cannot see that, it is they who should wear a blindfold. Let go of your shame, for it is invalid. Do not dishonor your father this way, the villagers have done enough of that.”

When Naruto left a stunned Kakashi behind to step into a Makyo Hyousho, the mantis ANBU agent smiled behind his mask. Before he shushined away.

 

***

 

Naruto appeared in the council chambers, and the ice mirror dissipated into miniscule ice shards which melted. He noted that the council, which included the Hokage’s advisors, the clan heads, and the civilian representatives, was already present in full strength.

“Now that the accused is present, the council is now in session.” Hiruzen intoned, sounding emotionless. “Before we move on to the more obvious, is there any other matters that must be brought to attention?” When none raised their hands, he continued, “Then this metting will be solely focused on Genin Uzumaki Naruto. The accused, please step forward.”

Naruto did so without complaint.

“Genin Uzumaki Naruto, you hereby stand accused of the murder of the kage of another hidden village, capturing of another tailed beast that was not assigned to us, and abandoning mission parameters on a C-rank escort mission that turned into an S-rank Protection detail. What say you in your defense?”

“Pardon me, Hokage-sama,” Aburame Shibi interrupted, “but I believe I misheard you. An _S-rank_ Protection Detail?”

“Our mission evolved due to misinformation from our client.” Naruto answered in the Hokage’s stead. “Allow me to elaborate. Or given mission objective was the simple escort of a bridge builder named Tazuna from Konohagakure to his minor civilian village in Nami no Kuni. He filed to mention that the famous business magnate, Gatou, was after his life. Said man sent in two Chuunin level nukenin, the demon brothers Gozu and Mezu whose bounty I have claimed directly by proxy of our Hokage-sama, and A-rank nukenin Momoch Zabuza with his protégé Yuki Haku. Under duress, my Uzumai Fuinkusari assimilated them both after my team-mates Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura were rendered unconscious by Yuki Haku, a weilder of the Hyouton.”

“Why have you not claimed Momochi Zabuza’s bounty as well?” asked Akimichi Chouza, smiling. “It is only deserved, after all.”

“Due to their high power levels, we could not risk their abilities falling into enemy hands. We burned them to the last cell.”

“A wise decision.” Nara Shikaku commented.

Naruto nodded his head in gratitude. “In any case, I plead not guilty to those accusations, and would ask to be allowed a chance to explain exactly how so.”

“Permission granted.” Said Hiruzen, who was more flustered by what would come to pass after this ‘hearing’. One Shimura Danzo noted this with an intrigued countenance.

“Yondaime Mizukage Mizu no Yagura was a dictator who was leading a crusade against wielders of kekkei-genkai. His own village was in a state of civil war. As such, during a civil war, his title of Kage was moot. I am also informed that the Godaime Mizukage has expressed gratitude of my actions, and thus should negate this matter entirely.”

“Be that as it may,” Hyuuga Hiashi spoke, eyes narrowed, “the act of murder was still carried out on a shinobi from another village.”

“True enough, Hyuugan-san.” Naruto agreed. “But alas, I have not a brother to sacrifice in my stead in the name of maintaining order.”

The Hyuuga balled his fists but said nothing.

“The accusation of me capturing a tailed beast is also moot, since the Sanbi no longer exists.” Naruto continued, ignoring Inazuka Tsume’s smirk of approval. “When I assimilated Mizu no Yagura, I assimilated the Sanbi no Kyodaiame, named Isobu, as well. Currently, his chakra has fused with Kyuubi-sama, and is impossible to separate. Since the Shodaime Hokage declared Kyuubii-sama as property of Konohagakure no Sato, Isobu is now officially a part of Konohhagakure as well.”

At this point Danzo spoke. “Are you saying your kekkei-genkai is effective even on tailed beasts?”

“Indeed, Shimura-sama.” Naruto nodded. “However, this example shows that the bijuu I will assimilate will fuse with Kyuubi-sama, and relinquish its personality entirely.”

There was silence as everyone present pondered over that tidbit of information. Most were imagining a scenario wherein Naruto ad assimilated all of the bijuu, and had mixed feelings about the prospect.

“As for the last allegation, our primary directive was to ensure Tazuna’s protection. This was accomplished the moment I eliminated Gatou, his men, and his base.” Naruto spoke.

Hiruzen nodded. “I have heard of this and can personally attest to it being true. Jounin sensei Hatake Kakashi has confirmed this fact.”

“Then these were baseless accusations submitted to waste the council’s time.” Inazuka Tsume said, standing up. “If we’re done here-“

“Pardon me, Inazuka-sama, but there is another matter to be addressed.” Naruto said, folding his hands behind him. “I accuse Yamanaka Inoichi of tampering with my memory at a young age.”

All was silent for three seconds, until everyone began speaking at once.

“Impossible!” said Tsume.

“He’s better than that!” said Kurama Jin.

“No way!” said civilian council member Haruna Ichigo.

“Silence!” Hiruzen intoned, and all snapped their mouths shut, save for those like Danzo and SHibi who put themselves above such behavior, and Inoichi, Chouza and Shikaku who were stunned at the accusation.

“Yamanaka Inoichi acted on my orders to ensure Naruto’s loyalty to the village.” Hiruzen spoke, drawing gasps from most present. “Any blame of the situation falls to me.”

“Then you will not be able to refuse me, Hokage-sama.” Naruto said, then smirked. “I hereby demand that you read my mother’s, Uzumaki Kuhsina’s, and my father’s, Namikaze Minato’s, wills in public.”

This time, even Shibi joined in on the uproar.

 

***

 

Sarutobi Asuma was less than pleased.

To start with, he had woken up early in the morning without much sleep, leaving him qute disgruntled for the rest of the day. Sleep was incredibly important for this man, as was relaxing, and any lack thereof produced an irritated edge to the fuuton user. As such, he left his apartment feeling quite agitated.

Then, when he collected his particularly crabby team and made way to the Missions Office so he could get that day’s mission out of the day, he noted that Kurenai was already out of the village on a week-long C-rank protection detail in a nearby civilian village, thus making him incapable of spend time with her to ‘cool off’.

However, there was a certain tidbit to peak his interest.

“You might want *cough* to get that out of the *cough* way before 12 p.m. *cough* *cough* There’s to be an *cough* important announcement on *cough* *cough* the radio today at that *cough* *cough* *cough* time, and everyone is being *cough* encouraged to *clears throat* drop their tasks and *cough* *cough* *cough* *cough* listen. *cough*” coughed Gekko Hayate, Chuunin of Konohagakure. On his side, his old teammate orphan Tokara seemed to lower his head, and Asuma was quick to spy said person’s hands balled into fists. His stature of that of self-imposed anger.

Why would he be angry at himself on hearing that there was going to be an announcement?

Gurisu Tokara, a ninja of civilian origin, was quite a controlled shinobi, a far cry of a change from his younger days. As such, he was famed for always controlling his emotions. Well, being on a team with Morino Ibiki was bound to do that to anyone, Asuma mentally chuckled.

But such… ferocity… could only hint at one thing – Tokara was angry at himself for letting something obvious slip through his gaze. It was the only thing anyone had seen him express any emotion for. Many of his fellow shinobi had actually shown concern that he was repressing his emotions far too much than what was healthy.

Shelving the idea, believing he would have his answers at noon anyway, Asuma stalked out of the office with his team in tow. Both Ino and Choji had picked up that something was amiss with their sensei, and Shikamaru… well, it was safe to say that he had already comprehended it, and simply believed it too troublesome to investigate.

Asuma was concerned about Ino. Approximately a week ago, the Yamanaka heiress had had a rather jarring nudge to her ideologies, after all.

 

_“Heya there, forehead!” Ino yelled, jogging up to a familiar pink-haired girl. He would recognize that hair anywhere, even if it was longer than before now. The blonde simply smirked as she thought that Sakura was attempting to mimic her. The pinkette had tried to walk in her shadow for the longest time after all._

_A pinkette who wasn’t even heeding her call anymore._

_Ino frowned. “Hey, forehead! Hold up!”_

_Only to see no change. Even the passersby were looking at her now. Sakura was making her look stupid!_

_“Sakura!”_

_That got her attention. The girl stopped and turned around with a confused expression on her face. “Good morning, Ino-san. How are you?”_

_Ino stuttered for a moment due to the civil tone Sakura employed, as opposed to the sneer and haughty tone she would normally adopt, and toned down her previously planned exuberant display of superiority. “’M great and ev’rythin’, but what’s on with you? Ya goin’ deaf or somethin’?”_

_“No, baka.” Sakura smoke, smiling innocently. “I answered you the moment I heard my name, didn’t I?”_

_“But-“ Ino began, then stopped when she realized that, indeed, her first choice of term to refer to Sakura as was ‘forehead’ rather than her own actual name – something that Sakura had felt wildly insecure about since she was small and caused Ino to defend and befriend her. Even if they crushed on the same boy and separated because of it, why would Ino devolve to essentially being what she had protected Sakura against earlier? Was her personality that shallow, or was it simply the universe’s way of posing them as a ‘rival’ for each other?_

_Little did she know; but in some other dimension, a man with the last name Kishimoto sneezed._

_“Aw hell, sorry ‘bout that, gurl.” Ino said, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. “Anyway, I haven’t seen ya in ages! Whatchu been upto?”_

_Sakura shrugged, but smiled truly this time, mind pulling up old memories of when she and INo would talk like they were the only people in the world. How long ago was that, now? “Nothing much. I’ve been on a few missions, raised my genjutsu level. I’ve also begun to dabble in Iryojutsu a bit, at least with what’s available in the Ninja Library. You?”_

_“Nuthin’ new, bein’ honest. Pawpaw has been tryin’ to hammer in them clan techniques into my skull, and it ain’t fun, I tell ya! Nuthin’ more borin’ than trynta memorize a bajillion books on how ya mind is or ain’t workin’ right to grasp the basics.” Ino sighed, folding her hands and cocking her hips to one side. “Well, at least I ain’t a noob when I comes to shinobiyorujutsu – Asuma-sensei’s been yamerin’ about how it’s been the most used of all ninja technique types out there, but I ain’t buyin’ it. I reckon he’s tryin’ ta motivate Shikamaru, but I’m getting minced in the process, since Choji is based ‘round Taijutsu anyway.”_

_“Well, he is right.” Sakura spoke, seemingly thoughtful. “Genjutsu and Ninjutsu both had comparatively higher chakra costs, and thus more liable to exhaust their users in combat. All the three of you come from clans that not only need to employ discretion in their jutsu, but also have an amazing capability to work from the shadows – literally, in Shikamaru’s case. How would you fare if the enemy was fast enough to dodge your SHintenshin or, in Choji’s case, was capable of repelling or redirecting his Baika no jutsu? You guys may try best strike from the shadows. Both you and Shikamaru have techniques that one can use in assassination too.”_

_Ino was… less than pleased by that assessment. “Whuteva, it ain’t like anything won’t reflect mah luv fo’ Sasuke-kun anyway.”_

_Sakura simply sighed and rolled her eyes._

_The Yamanaka narrowed hers. “Who you tryn’ ta sass, gurl? Have you already sunken yer harpy claws into mah Sasuke-kun, that it?” Ino fumed, fists clenching._

_The Haruno famiy member seemed stunned for all of a moment, before she burst into abrupt and loud laughter. It was so loud, in fact, that it gave everyone within a five hundred meter radius quite a start._

_“Whatso funny, you-“_

_“I’m laughing at the fact that I once was like that, like you.”_

_Ino was the one stunned this time. “Wh- what?”_

_“Like you!” Sakura said, losing all of the mirth that was on her face and in her tone. “To become so obsessed with a boy that you neglect doing the bare minimum. To be or, in my case, try to be vain. To alienate who was once a friend,” at this point Ino could spot unshed tears glinting in Sakura’s eyes, “simply in the pursuit of said person! Yeah, both of us instigated this equally, but we could have stopped this stupidity at any time! I’m both amused and disgusted that I was like how you are now for even the shortest while.”_

_“N- now wait a minute-“_

_“I have nothing to say to you, Yamanaka-san, unless you find out why you want to be a kunoichi, with a response other than, ‘Because Sasuke-kun is a shinobi.” Then, the civilian-origin kunoichi simply turned and walked away, internally feeling a million times lighter._

 

Asuma smirked. He’d been planning to have that talk with Ino soon, but he wanted it to come from someone else who the girl knew for longer and thus wouldn’t discount the opinion of. And indeed, after that day, Ino was growing to be what one would call the ‘slave driver’, forcing the team onto longer and more intense practices than ever before, and maybe even demanding more than Asuma. Her teammates were less than pleased and made that plenty known, but went along with it because they knew it would help they career as ninjas. When Shikamaru complained something was too troublesome, Ino would point out that it was “be’er to do it now than leave it fo’ later”, and Choji could be tempted with a packet of crisps.

It took a long time for Asuma to realize that it was already jut before and the trees were already cut from the clearing.

Asuma led their way to their favorite restaurant for a meal, and was about to order before the restaurant owner shushed everyone and turned the radio volume up.

 _“Good afternoon, citizens of Konoha!”_ sounded the overly chipper voice of the jockey of Hi no Kuni’s official radio, who was lovingly nicknamed Mewakuna Shin’aina (annoying dear) _“Today, as you may know, besides the unusually low temperatures for this clear day of May, at 19 degrees with experts suggesting a lower number at night, the other thing that stands out today is that our beloved Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen-sama wished to make an announcement! Here he is now, with us in the Hamusen (Leaf Radio) building!”_

 ** _“Thank you, Akiro-kun.”_** Hiruzen said, sounding weary however. **_“I am here today to correct a mistake, something I believed I was doing for the best, but was proven hilariously wrong by the entirety of my village, Konohagakure.”_**

_“Was it the commercial tax reform act of 96AN?”_

**_“Not anything no benign. Allow me to finish before you speak, Akiro-kun.”_** The Hokage chided gently. **_“Today, I am here to disclose an important fact, and read one document – both of them contain information I should not have withheld.”_** There was rustling of papers heard, before he spoke again. **_“I will now read the last will and testament of Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage, as it has been done for every Kage and figure of prominence since the founding of the village.”_**

There was pin-drop silence in the restaurant. His sleep was a thing of the past the moment he heard his grandfather’s repentant tone, and Asuma coud spot even his Genin showing interest.

**_“I, Namikaze Minato, of sound body and mind hereby fuse my chakra into this scroll to update with my last wishes on the moment of my death in all awareness. In no way am I being coerced, manipulated, or emotionally blackmailed._ **

**_To my wife, Uzumaki Kushina, I leave behind our cottage by the shores of Lake Engetsu, which should be obvious since she is indeed my beloved wife and partner. I also leave behind, in her possession, a copy of the designs for my master Hiraishin seal, since our chakras bear a close enough signature for her to utilize it._ **

**_To my mentor, Dansetsu no Jiraiya, I leave behind a copy of my original notes and calculations on the Hiraishin, in hopes that he finally convinces Fukusaku-sama to include it as a signature technique of the toad summoning clan._ **

**_To my student, Hatake Kakashi, I leave behind a copy of my development notes on the Rasengan in hopes that he will be able to push it to its final stage. Do well, and prosper, but don’t overwork yourself._ **

**_As a general statement, I implore all of the above to... take care of my son, and nurture him well. I am certain the village will see him as a hero one day, and a hero does need sidekicks after all! Teach him well, everyone!_ **

**_And thus, I come to my final clause. To my son, I leave behind all of my original notes and scrolls, and the Namikaze legacy. The Sandaime Hokage, will be able to explain to you further. I am sorry for leaving you so suddenly, but I am sure there has to have been a very good reason. Being an orphan, I realize what not having a father can do to you, but you will, at least, have your mother, a doting uncle, a close friend, and an entire village worth of people to love you and care for you! How could you want for me in any fashion?_ **

**_If you still find yourself missing or wanting to be close to me, I have come to respect the amount of emotional impact being at the Memorial Stone in the graveyard can offer._ **

**_Do me proud, Namikaze Naruto, first ever heir to a Namikaze clan.”_ **

There was shocked silence. Almost all of the patrons, who were getting misty eyed hearing such words from a man they requested so much, froze in various positions, widened their eyes, or had their jaws open.

_“I… I beg your pardon Hokage-sama, but are you saying that Yondaime-sama had a son with Uzumaki Kushina? And he was… Uzumaki Naruto?”_

**_“That is exactly what I am saying. Reading this will was Naruto’s wish as a descendant of blood, and yet his primary concern was me revealing his parentage to, in his words, ‘the people who have afforded him such amazing care in his childhood’ and ‘have spat on their former leader’s legacy’.”_ **

_“Bu- but we didn’t know! Surely if we did-“_

**_“I will not argue this with you, since you will defend these people. I have never been more ashamed of being a Kage, and I doubt any Kage has felt the way I have felt. Regardless, let me rephrase the crux of the matter – when the Kyuubi was sealed into Naruto, it was with his own fathers dying breath, since one cannot kill a bijuu, and he desired to protect the lot of you. I insisted on being the one who did so, due to my age, but he simply commented it would not be his right to wear the hat if he shirked his duties for such a silly reason._ **

**_In return, you shunned his child. Naruto grew up without parents, but even orphans are subject to love and acceptance. Naruto had neither since he was barely a day old. In spite of that, he maintained an aura of exuberance and positivity. In spite of me placing a law that expressly forbade people to speak of the Kyuubi incident at all, the members of the previous generation all but ensured Naruto was alone by passing on their ridiculous and frankly shameful views onto their children. They in turn treated Naruto like trash, when he would have sworn on his head to never do anything malicious to anyone in this village, or offer anything in recompense simply to not have someone look at him with hate… In fact… I seem to recall a talk show on this very station when you called on unimportant ninja during the battle and asked them to express their feelings of the event… on his birthday. The result was an apartment fire in the Red Light district. Would you like to know the injured count? It was one, because all the residents of the building had cleared out. Venture a guess as to who the injured was?_ **

**_Let me make one thing perfectly clear, my love for this village was ever high during the time of the previous Kage’s. If anyone even hinted at the fact that the citizens of Konohagakure could treat a child the way you lot have treated Naruto, I would have laughed in their face._ **

**_Now, if someone says all the people of Konohagakure are inherently good and were simply swayed by their Yondaime’s sacrifice, I would laugh in their faces, and ask ‘what people?’”_ **

Silence. Not even birds outside the restaurant chirped anymore. It felt as if the world had come to a standstill, that even the very land itself was ashamed of them for what had come to pass.

**_“Before I leave, allow me to make further announcements. In light of their inability to ensure the safety of an orphan, and thus a civilian, and saw him susceptible to abuse, the civilian council is hereby disbanded._ **

**_You may observe several citizens of Konoha vanish or be escorted by ANBU forcefully to the Torture and Interrogation department after I finish taking part in this broadcast. All stores who have charged any citizen of Konoha, civilian or Ninja, unfair amounts and/or turned them away due to unjust reasons, will have to pay a fine of seventy-five percent of their yearly profit once. I would put a punishment in place when someone attacks Naruto himself, but after knowing what he is capable of, I will be more than happy to allow him to handle them himself. For further information and dissuasion from actually believing you can do anything beyond hurting yourself or suicide by attacking him, read the S-Class section of the Bingo Book Version F.”_ **

Silence seemed to have a uniform presence throughout the village.

 

***

 

Naruto, smiled a sad smile, eyes closed. He felt a single lone tear trail down his cheek. The single boring part of his plans for Konohagakure was over and done, informing the populace exactly why he was going to do what he did. Although he believed they weren’t worth the effort, killing them wouldn’t be nearly as satisfactory otherwise.

He stood, carrying the portable radio he had brought along for this very occasion. He wiped the wet trail, and opened his eyes, looking up at the sky. Feet on the arch-like structures of the Hokage Building, he tossed the radio up into the air and caught it, repeatedly and absent-mindedly, thinking of his next moves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AF - ORIGINAL CONCEPT - Finding it silly that there is no established date system (at least that what I have heard of, 'After Formation (of the Hidden Villages)' will be the uniform date system used in the Shinobi Lands.
> 
> *Note - Idk why, but I've been playing FF15 a lot lately, and Ino just seemed to fit in with Cindy for some reason.


	9. Exodus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has loads of mistakes, but I think it's because I've ruined my keyboard writing so much. I'll look into them after I get a new one soon, so please politely ignore them.

Sakura still seemed uncertain of her Nuibari, it seemed. Kakashi watched her as she reluctantly wove through stances that he was running her on, while only putting in barely enough effort to achieve the stances she was meant to. He wondered whether it was her nervousness of actually taking a life coming into play…. Hmm… some green genin really wouldn’t know when to let go of their innocence, it seemed. Still, her grace was somewhat passable, so he refrained from speaking up about it.

Sasuke wove the Kiba round like he was born to do it. Sharingan blazing, the young Uchiha looked very intimidating… to the average shinobi. He had swapped over his clothes for something more protective than the simple mesh link he had under civilian clothes before, now, Sasuke was dressed in a charcoal grey pair of shinobi bottoms, lined on the underside with mesh. A low, matching V-neck sleeveless tee covered his torso over a sleeveless mesh shirt. For protecting the extremities of his feet, he slapped on a weighted set of black shinobi sandals, stating that all the weight was kind of training in itself, and was currently considering getting weights into the hidden pockets scattered around his outfit. His right hand sported a black sleeveless metal-plated glove that almost reached his elbows, just a few millimeters shy of actually doing so. However, his left was completely covered in an imprresive metal-armored armglove. A black belt that sat atop a dull purple sash around his waist held his equipment pouch.

Overall it was toeing the line between childhood fantasy and actual shinobi gear… but Kakashi didn’t complain as long as it worked.

He was of a much better opinion with Sakura. Finally realizing the seriousness of the lifestyle she had chosen, she seemed to be getting into the mindset for a more serious genin. Earlier, she simply donned pink civilian clothes, with the only ninja-related equipment being her item pouch, kunai pouch, and sandals. Now, she swapped her old attire for something that far more benefitted a kunoichi. A mesh shirt undergarment and mesh leggings ensured she would survive far more than a shuriken. Over that, a shortsleeved bright pink cropped t-shirt went, showing her mesh-covered stomach. Bottle green leggings, with a hunai pouch strapped on her right leg, a bigger item pouch at her left side, and bottle green shinobi sandals completed her look.

Naruto too, deicded it was time for a change. He ditched his previous crimson-prominent outfit for a duller one. A kimono adorned his mesh-covered torso, sporting a red so dark it might as well be black. It bore no designs, only a simple white trimming, and sleeves longer than his arm length by six inches. Considering that he could perform all of his jutsus with either one or no handsigns now, Kakashi let it slide. The kimono reached far below his knees, slowing a little bit of leg before black sinobi sandals. Naruto actually wore black shorts that ended midway down his thigh. The absence of an equipment pouch was explained away with his apparent lack of need – he could fashion projectiles out of ice or earth without a thought, and enhance them with lightning or wind. His hair was trimmed short, similar to the size of back before…. Everything. A single braid hung on his left side that reached well below his ear.

Dealing with Naruto had been… difficult lately. After his muted rebuttal over him being reminded of Rin, he was unsure whether he would be welcomed anymore. The thought was ridiculous – he was his jounin sensei, and Naruto had to obey his direct orders without question. He _had_ been doing so, in fact, and that to without complaint. Their mission record was through the roof (in no small part to Naruto, whose clone limit seemed to be skyrocketing daily), but the ones they did do personally were performed efficiently and without complaint. The other two of his genin probably had not even noticed anything was amiss.

Regardless… he wondered how it would all play out. This mission was the first they would take that took them out of this realm, after all.

 

***

 

Naruto was not amused.

He waited calmly with Sasuke and Sakura for Kakashi to show up. While his Koinu certainly had toughened up after the instatement of their team, and even more so after the fight at Nami no Kuni with Zabuza three months ago, he hadn’t quite lost his lateness streak. It was not the reason he was not in an amused mood, however, although it certainly lent a part to it.

It wasn’t his teammates either; Naruto was actually amused by them, since both were rapidly improving in their pursuits. Sasuke had finally mastered the Kage Bakudan no Jutsu, and used it to great effect both on long and short ranges. In his arsenal of bombs, he included standard exploding bombs, poison bombs, flashbang bombs, kunai-rain bombs, and sedative bombs. Seeing this, he had put learning katon jutsus on hold, and had branched into Raiton techniques. Well, this is where the Uchiha prodigy seemed to be gifted. The lightning produced by his chakra seemed to be a lighter shade of purple as opposed to the normal light-blue hue, tinged with black on the edges. Kakashi had also remarked that it seemed to cut more deeply and leave more ambient damage, when he tested it by having Sasuke charged it with chakra and threw it at a boulder… only to pass right through three others behind it and fade into the distance without even slowing down, leaving scorched rocks in its wake.

Seeing this, Kakashi taught him the predecessor to his Raikiri, the Chidori. It proved easy for Sasuke to master, only one and a half weeks. However, Sasuke had taken it to an entirely other level, creating a body-wide technique of the same origin. While the Chidori or Raikiri depended on the entire hand’s worth of Chakra being condensed only from the wrist down, his Raijin no Yoroi, as he had christened it, depended on the entire body’s worth of chakra being condensed into the thin layer of skin that covered his body. The result was an impregnable jutsu. Not only did it enhance the piercing capability of his strikes and kunai he wielded in taijutsu, but it also caused his body itself to be able to pierce if his angled it right. Naruto acknowledged that this jutsu was something worthy in his eyes. With the Kiba, Sasuke was a fearsome genin. Actually, Sasuke had crossed the capabilities of standard genin a long while ago.

Sakura too, had moved on from her dependency on illusions in combat. While she still kept Genjutsu as her secondary attack pattern, it was more about infusing genjutsu with her new Nuibari. She always created illusions showing she was actually attacking in some other pattern than she actually did. She also seemed to start reading on poisons and medical jutsu, perhaps due to her terrifying levels of natural chakra control. Naruto, in all his stoicism, sweatdropped everytime she aced a chakra control exercise within the first five tries. It seemed her chakra pool was small… too small, at first, to be able to be utilized with anything less than perfect control. Now, however, as her pool slowly grew with all the control exercises she kept doing, Naruto wondered what the comparison was from beginning to now. Her chakra pathways were certainly much more than the thread-wide ones they had been before… and the amount of effort she was putting into her training, even if she obviously was hesitant when it came to the Nuibari, was commendable. It seemed the Haruno Sakura who squealed everytime Sasuke was in sight was long gone.

So, this was also not what contributed to his discontent.

It also wasn’t the villagers, although they did provide both Kyuubi and him with a source of disgust and amusement. After Hokage-sama’s speech, the entire populations seemed to have forgotten about his demon status entirely, whether by guilt at his words, urging of the younger generations, or fear of being persecuted, in the case of few. People didn’t glare at him when he passed, shops no longer refused him service or charged him high, and no one whispered behind his back, to name a few of the changes that had come to pass. Of course, this only brought the fickle nature of mankind into focus for the young Uzumaki, and served only to strengthen the loathing he held for this cursed place, much to the surprise of Kyuubi who had assumed he would be so shocked out of his system that he would forget his goals entirely. He had actually laughed at that, and told the great bijuu that the fate of Konoha was set in stone the moment his Fuuinkusari first woke.

No, what was agitating him was that he hadn’t found a way to draw senjutsu natural chakra without the aid of a summoning contract’s instruction. He had listened to Kyuubi-sama’s instructions, who knew the brat was doing everything right, but it seemed there was a catalyst that he was missing.

He debated asking Kakashi over a dinner. Money was not an issue for him anymore, especially since he took care of almost all of the delivery missions the village had personally. The Makyo Hyousho truly was formidable – not only could he go wherever he wished, but the dimension in between was much alike a storage scroll, able to carry objects for him. He experimented with the body of a Chuunin-rank Konoha nukenin who had relatively low bounty, and found that not only had the body frozen in place midair after he tossed it in, but also that it seemed to freeze in time itself, not beginning to rot even after several days. That woman had indeed been useful, since she had an unusually strong Katon affinity, however limited her repertoire was. Still, with the help of his shadow clones and his dearest Koinu, he mastered the Katon chakra exercises (setting a leaf on fire, setting two trees at once on fire, and then maintaining a blazing leaf’s flame when submerged in water), and moved on to learn the Goukyaku, Enbunshin, Goryuuka, Hosenka, Goukamekyaku, and Kaen Senpu. The Goukamekyaku was an Uchiha clan HIjutsu, but Sasuke had repaid him with the technique scroll because of the pointers Naruto had given him about his own Kage Bakudan no jutsu. As such, his image was slightly elevated in Naruto’s eyes.

 However, that was not all the apparent last true Uzumaki learnt. He finally delved into Fuuton jutsus, learning the elemental exercises for it (splitting a leaf, splitting a waterfall, and maintaining a ball of pure vacuum under a water body) without the use of any clones at all, showing just how strong his affinity was. He learnt the Daitoppa, Senpuken, Shinkugyoku, Shinkutaigyoku, Shinkujin, Shinkuha, and the Shinku Renpa with only thirty-five clones, which surprised even him. He then proceeded to practice until he could use them without having to expel air from his mouth, which he found weird (much to Kakashi and Sasuke’s chargin and Sakura’s amusement), which took much less a time than he would have expected.

With Naruto’s arsenal well beyond almost eighty percent of the shinobi population, the team began to set in drills with all three as frontline fighters – Sasuke would bring in the ration ninjutsu, taijutsu and bakudanjutsu, Sakura the gejutsu, kenjutsu, and iryojutsu, and Naruto the area wide destruction ninjutsu as well as support, making the team a frankly devastating combination. Kakashi ha informed them that he was fully confident in the team’s ability to at _least_ gain the Chuunin level, if not more, as rotation shifts during the C-rank bandit hunting or POI escorting missions they did in leadership ensured that all three understood what it took to lead the team, and hammer in battle tactics into their skull to such a degree that they had better minds than low-tier Nara.

Speaking of which…

Naruto had felt it amusing to inform his team that he had assimilated the DNA of a main family Hyuuga. Kakashi’s reaction was to simply faceplant. Naruto then moved on to demonstrate the jutsu he procured, the Hakke Sanbyaku Gojuu Rokusho, Hakke Kusho, Hakke Hasangeki, and, with the help of his kagebunshin, the Hakke Kuhekisho. There were no other techniques, but he exhibited confidence that, combining the bloodlines he had acquired, he would be able to create more.  Sasuke was simply ecstatic, and even his recent emotional ‘upliftment’ paled in comparison to the joy he expressed in not being the only Dojutsu Genin on the team, which made Sakura sulk for a few days, as now she was the only one without.

“Naruto, the Hyuuga clan won’t like that you can use their techniques, you now.” Kakashi said after the two had left (Sasuke acquiescing to a date with Sakura to rise her spirits again), fingers rubbing his mask-free chin in a thoughtful manner.

The boy just smiled, his orange Byakugan glinting in light of the setting sun. “Koinu, without all due respect, I honestly don’t care.” He then frowned. “Did you now that more than one of the chakra coils leading to your Sharingan eye are damaged?”

Kakashi startled.

“I won’t press on exactly how you got it, but it has not been implanted correctly. There are eight paths of chakra that normally lead to one’s eyes, ten if they’re an Uchiha or Hyuuga. But there are only six leading to yours, and the main one isn’t fused correctly, leading to your permanently active Sharingan. I can use Kyuubi-sama’s chakra to fix that, if you wish.”

Kakashi’s expression closed off. “No. Sorry, but I like it the way it is. If you’ll excuse me.”

Naruto frowned in recollection of that extremely short conversation a few days ago. He hadn’t been able to have an alone moment with Kakashi after that, and didn’t deem it appropriate to bring it up in front of the rest of his team… who were more shocked at the appearance of their techer’s face than anything so far. A growl from Naruto got them moving again.

The rest of the village too had been astonished with Kakashi’s mask’s disappearance. Naruto could barely count the number of Kunoichi who had-

“Yo.”

“YOU’RE LATE!” Sakura nearly roared. Sasuke simply regarded their teacher with a disapproving frown from where they now stood.

“Maa maa, I was late because I had to pick up a B-rank mission for you guys!”

Naruto quirked an eyebrow. The team itself had never been on a B-rank, although Naruto’s clones had. Kakashi must think they were ready for the next step.

“Sensei… no genin team is allowed a B rank.” Sasuke stated, and his tone of voice clearly showed exactly what he thought about his sensei.

“Um… yeah… about that…” Kakashi trailed, and for the first time, looked to Naruto for something other than giving a direct order.

Naruto, although shocked, took pity on his koinu. “As you know, the Hokage has allowed this team special disposition when it comes to missions.” He began, and his two teammates turned to regard him with a gaze that clearly spoke of realization. “Counting not only the fact that a hgher mission count shows that Konoha is far stronger, or that I have abilities far beyond normal genin, it also allows for Team 7’s reputation to grow when I carry them out henged as the full team rather than just myself. Of course, I can’t replicate Sasuke’s or sensei’s Sharingan abilities, or even your iryojutsu, Sakura, but I don’t need to. When I work alone, I prefer a quieter approach, and carrying out as many missions as I do ensures that I must complete them as fast as possible. Hokage-sama has devoted an ANBU agent to dispatch my missions to me, so that the mission office is not flooded with my clones. I collect my scroll, which contains all the mission scrolls I have to take for the day, from Neko at midnight, and turn in the missions in twenty four hours, at which point I collect the next set from her. If I finish them early, I collect new missions early.”

Sasuke smirked, proud of his teammate. Of course, Naruto was capable of doing this, he was the strongest in the team! The last loyal Uchiha was sure that, in an all-out battle without restrictions, Naruto would surely win against even Kakashi. After all, a person who was able to paint wide areas in full view of the village without beng spotted while garbed in a brght color, or who could sneak into the compound of a clan with a dojutsu capable of seeing far distances and through object, or who could give chuunin a un for their money at running away and hiding when he was six and with no special abilities whatsoever… well… give that person a Hyouton, a Byakugan, extreme degrees of elemental manipulation, and six years to age…

Sasuke actually had stars in his eyes.

Sakura… well, she was just confused. “But Naruto, even if you could make twenty teams and take on all the C and D rank missions in the village, we still wouldn’t have enough to take a B-rank. Even if we do accept the fact that you can do B-rank missions by leave of the Hokage, the village simply wouldn’t have enough missions to allow you to take on. I’m sure not _all_ our residents are physically inept at painting fences or walking their dogs…” she said, ending with an eyeroll.

Sasuke scoffed, and Kakashi chuckled. Ah, the laziness of civillians… but hey, at least they get ryo for their troubles!

Naruto considered her for a moment. The Hokage has not exactly specified that his mission progress was classified…

Oh well.

Naruto finally threw caution to the wind. “It is a cleverly devised plan that utilizes the art of selective information dispersal. Sakura, you know I’m in the Bingo book, right?” When his teammate nodded, he continued. “Do you know what a Bingo book’s uses are?”

“A Bingo book mainly classifies people of interest from all villages into different ranks for the knowledge of the entirety of the elemental nations. The subject can include both nukenin, who have bounties posted on their heads, figures of war or ninja who have slighted another nation, who also have bounties on their heads, or simply information on people who may pose a threat to order in the furture but haven’t done anything yet.”

Naruto nodded. “Now, say if… you were the Daimyo of Kaze no Kuni. You learn that there is a shinonbi in another village who can deliver items and people instantaneously, and at a far lower cost. This ninja has done nothing to slight your village, and may prove a valuable ally in the future, or even the village itself – if it has one such gem, what of the possibility of more? What would you do?”

“I would….” Sakura’s eyes widened. “Naruto… what it the average number of missions you are doing everyday as Team 7? And from how many countries?! And since when?!!”

Sasuke and Kakashi too leaned forward… as no one knew the exact number.

“Two hundred missions per day from twenty villages from the past two months .”

The rest of them facefaulted.

“Two months? Sixty days?” Kakashi asked, surprised. “I know your clones don’t take a day off and you just pump out more when some dispel… so sixty into… two… hundred… oh.”

“But… how?!” Sakura asked when she got off the ground. “Two hundred missions would mean eight hundred clones… and B-ranks would require a lot of chakra… oh kami, everyone must think we are some sort of chakra monsters!”

“Naruto… How many missions have you done as B-rank or above?” Sasuke asked, starstruck.

Said boy was neither preening nor ashamed under the scrutiny. Most of the missions undertaken were delivery or bodyguard ones, with a few assassinations tossed in. It didn’t really require a lot of chakra, but he did require quite a few refills from Kyuubi-sama. “Fifty everyday.”

Silence. On could probably hear a pin drop in the distance. Overhead, crows flew high, cawing.

“…”

“…”

“…”

“..?”

“Okay then, Kakashi-sensei, what is the mission?”

“Now, this might be disappointing, but our mission is to simply train for a couple months.” Kakashi said, smirking, which made everyone look upon him with curiosity.

“What kind of training would require us so long a time, sensei?” Sasuke asked, head tilted.

Kakashi seemed to think about it for a moment, then spoke, “While the three of you have come far from when we started, there is still one tool I can give you before you proceed to become Chuunin and are responsible for your own growth – the Kuchiyose no Jutsu.”

The statement was pretty self-explanatory and excited all three Genin present. Naruto could almost feel his frustration ebbing away. Finally…

“As you three know, in order to summon, one must sign a contract with the respective clan they wish to summon members from. Summoning clans are mostly divided by animal types, with the Snake, Slug, Toad, and Rabbit contracts currently being the highest level the shinobi lands has ever seen, especially since the Dragon, Phoenix, Hydra, and Tengu contracts were lost to the ages – these were the four most recognized scrolls to ever grace the hands of man, and were well known during the ages of the clan wars.” The now-maskless shinobi almost chuckled at the sight his three students showed – all, even the usually aloof Naruto, paying attention this much. “But I digress. The point is, that no shinobi can just sign any contract, or else the Kuchiyose no Justu would be inculcated from the Acdemy itself. No, you see, besides the contracts themselves having picky judges with hard tests, very few Shinobi actually have the aptitude to summon at all. These shinobi are usually those who have unusual connections to animals, or have trained in a style naturally reminiscent to that animal. It is said that when one with an unusually strong connection to a certain type of animal performs the hand seals thus required for summoning, he will be reverse-summoned right into that particular contract’s domain and may be tested to form said contract. This is what we will be doing.”

“But sensei,” interrupted Sakura, who gulped when three sets of eyes turned to her, “the only shinobi in Konoha ever said to be successful in this number in four – our Sandaime, and his Genin team. No one else who has tried has succeeded.”

Kakashi smiled at her. “Well, I’m almost a hundred percent positive that my cute little Genin are animal compatible. Or… are you saying you don’t want to try?”

“NO!” the three shouted in unison, much to the amusement of everyone present.

“Very well then. I’ll ask you to pack for a month-long trip at most, although I have the feeling you will be back before then. Meet me here in an hour, okay?”

“Hai!” Sasuke and Sakura exclaimed, and shunshined away.

Kakashi was going to do so himself, and was stopped by Naruto’s hand on his wrist. “Have I done something wrong, Koinu?”

Th older man looked at Naruto emotionlessly, then sighed, his faced dripping with weariness. “No, Naruto… it’s not you. I just… my eyes are a sensitive topic for me.”

“I read up on what happened.” Naruto whispered, causing Kakashi to step closer. “I’m sorry, I just-“

“Naruto, you did nothing wrong.” Kakashi sighed, feeling really bad. Naruto never really showed much emotion besides disdain or amusement (both ironically with his own Genin team), or even resigned acceptance (to the Sandaime). Having him distressed so much…

“No, Kakashi.” Naruto said, looking down. “I should have understood there was something off from the fact that that was an implanted Sharingan, which meant it was from before the Uchiha massacre since you have never mentioned losing someone during. The only place where an Uchiha would have died outside of that incident was the war.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Naruto. There is no way you could have known.” Kakashi said, raising Naruto’s chin with his hand.

“Still, I should have-“

Naruto was interrupted by Kakashi’s lips on his own. The younger of the two breathed out all his tension and frustration, not even knowing that something so simple had affected him so much.

Kakashi pulled away and smiled a genuine smile, albeit with a hint of reluctance. “I’m sorry that ignoring you was the way I handled it, Naruto. It won’t happen again.”

Naruto smiled a true smile for the first time in ages. He then proceeded to pounce on and kiss Kakashi senseless, causing a single kunoichi hidden in the trees nearly to nosebleed.

It was an hour later the Team 7 found themselves in their assigned Training-ground yet again. This time, however, all three had a single large scroll attached to their backs, that held all their supplies.

“Ready?” their sensei asked, and received three nods. “Very well, the signs are: Bor, Dog, Bird, Monkey, and Ram. Best of luck, and try not to die.” He said, thought the last part was accentuated with a smile.

With near identical smirks, the three Genin bit their thumbs, and flowed through the handsigns fluidly, then slammed their hands on the ground, exclaiming “Kuchiyose no jutsu!”

For nearly ten tense seconds, there was silence. Kakashi made to speak, but was interrupted by three occurances that were _decidedly not summoning smoke_. A blue circle that led to darkness opened up behind Sakura, and she was sucked in unceremoniously. Sasuke whirled to go after here, but a crystal suddenly materialized, and Sasuke, who was already moving, walked right into it, which vanished yet again. Behind Naruto, a circle expanded, showing a white and black Shoji, which opened into darkness, and a single white human-looking hand shot out, and dragged him in.

Kakashi’s single eye widened, and he turned on the spot and shunshined towards the Hokage tower.

 

***

 

“YOU IDIOT!” the Sandaime bellowed, and Kakashi flinched. “I OUTLAWED THAT PRACICE PRECISELY BECAUSE OF INCIDENTS LIKE THIS! THE UNAFFILIATED RAW SUMMONING JUTSU DOES NOT ONLY CONTACT ANIMAL CLANS, BUT ANY REALM THAT THE USER HAS THE BAREST OF CONNECTIONS TO! I HAVE LOST SEVERAL ANBU TO THIS, AND NOW NARUTO! YOU BETTER HOPE THEY COME BACK, KAKASHI, OR I WILL RIP INTO YOU MYSELF!”

“But-“

“BUT NOTHING!” Hiruzen snapped, then slammed his fist against the table. He then whistled agitatedly, and the four ANBU (besides the one standing guard against the ceiling) in the room fell from the ceiling and onto the floor. “I want you to track down Jiraiya of the Sannin. I already sent one team ahead, but they haven’t returned. See what has come to pass, his arrival is all the more needed now.”

The aged man stood and walked to the window, mind solely focused on the warnings Enma had given him after he asked his own students to perform the technique. He only wished that….

“Naruto…” he whispered, eyes tearing up.

For the words of his monkey companion still rung in his head.

_“Hiruzen, you allowed your students to do this, but I must ask you to deliver this message to your world: too many have used the roads inbetween to travel. Inter-dimensional travel has weakened the barriers that surround our universe, and may one day make it so fragile that the next to attempt an unsigned summoning may end up in another universe. Time and space are different in every universe – do not give me that face, of course there are more universes than ours! Anyway, since time flows differently and space is composed of different things… any who step forth may not return.”_

Hiruzen had listened to it, but not truly heard it until he tried to get an entire batch of ANBU to try it out, in hopes of empowering them further, only to see strange ways in which they vanished forever – rips opened in the very air, and they were either sucked, dragged, or vanished within. It was horrific, and to this day they had not returned.

He only hoped this was not the case with the best Genin team in the history of Konoha.

 

***

 

On the day prior to the beginning of the Chuunin exams, Kakashi still loitered around the training grounds, in hopes his team reappeared. He was currently sitting under the tree Naruto often sat under, and closed his eyes with a sigh.

Jiraiya-sama had been nearly a furious with him as the Hokage had been. The white-haired sage then immediately summoned the Gama Clan head Fukusaku, who was more disappointed when he heard that Minato’s son’s affinity did not lay with their clan. However, he did ask the Daigama Gamamaru, who had not been able to tell them much, besides the names of the places where his beloved students had vanished to. Sakura had journeyed to someplace called Fiore, Sasuke to Eos, and Naruto to Earth. That hadn’t told them much, but the prophetic toad had also conveyed to them through Fukasaku that all three were well and would eventually return.

That is exactly why Kakashi was currently here, but he was beginning to really feel the guilt. If the three ever returned, he would have a chance to make up for sending them headfirst into danger, but for now…

He closed his eyes, thinking back to the promise he had made when he first took on the rank of Jounin. How in the world was h supposed to protect all those who fell under his command – namely his Genin – if he wasn’t with them in the first place?

A strange shattering sound caused him to backflip onto the tree with a drawn kunai, which he almost dropped when he saw the source of.

Before him, right where he vanished from, Sasuke stood. However, anyone could notice the changes in him. For one, his chakra didn’t register to Kakashi as chakra at all, but something much more viscous, yet fluid. His hair had lightened, now looking more a mix of midnight blue and grey than pure black. While his other physical features remained the same, he was dressed in different clothes and the scroll on his back was gone – black cargo pants that ended a little below his knee, black boots that started an inch afterwards with skull buckles, a simple dark grey t-shirt with several skulls and crossbones designed onto it, and a black short-sleeved jacket that ended little above his knees. On his left hand was a single black fingerless leather glove.

“It’s strange being back in the body of a child after all that.” He muttered, looking down at himself, then around, spotting Kakashi immediately. “Oh. Sensei. Was I gone long?”

Kakashi sheathed his kunai and dropped down, and was about to respond-

But, a blue circle suddenly opened up right next to Sasuke in the pair, face down, and a very familiar pink-haired girl dropped from it. When she stood, Haruno Sakura stood, also garbed differently. While her physical features remained somewhat the same (her eye color was now blue instead of green), she now wore a white and peach single full-sleeved dress that reached to the length a pair of beach-shorts would. The white material was overlaid on the peach, the former thinning and flairing out at the ends of the sleeves and skirt-type end. Over this, she wore a brown belt with an oval gold buckle, and a leather harness that wrapped around her shoulders and reached to act like a short sleeved jacket that used a belt-like mechanism to close and black elastic to seal the sleeves. She wore white boots that reached well above thigh-high length, with golden shell-like knee guards and slightly darker greaves that started from her ankles and covered her feet. Her tessen were still present, held together in leather holsters that dropped from her harness to form two framing lines down to the belt she wore, and ended there.

“I’ll never get used to that.” She sighed, then spotted Sasuke. “Okay, where in _all of the universes_ did you go to become a mage too? I can feel the mana flowing off of you in waves!”

Sasuke smiled. “I’ll tell you guys all about it, I swear. Let’s wait for-“

Whatever he was going to say was interrupted with a loud hum. All three in the clearing turned to a look when Naruto simply materialized in the air. He fell to the ground in a crouch, and held his hand out to the air. A… creature materialized, something that looked like a cross between a monkey and a bat, with brown fur and white distinctive markings, alighting on the appendage and then swiftly making way to his shoulder. He wore black baggy pants, which were then brought to skin-tight levels by the brown knee-high boots he wore. A light brown sleeveless tunic that reached the ground on both front and back ends followed, with a red cloth that loosely wound over that, held together by a sash of similar light brown. A gigantic red scarf, which even when wrapped its ends reached the floor sat on his shoulders, which nearly obscured the black mesh shirt one could see underneath. A brown metal pauldron hugged his left shoulder, which looked to be of the same type that covered the toes, heels, and shins of his boots. On his hands sat bracers that started at his wrists and ended little below his elbows.

He stood, and took n his two teammates first, visibly analyzing them. Sakura grinned and Sasuke smirked at the gaze. The corner of Naruto’s lips lifted slightly in the corner, the only indication of his amusement.

Then he spotted Kakashi.

The arguably oldest found himself with an armful of brown and red teen, and his lips were occupied.

“I knew it!” Sakura crowed victoriously, but they both ignored her.

They broke away and tapped their foreheads together, breathing harshly.

“I missed you, Koinu.” Naruto whispered, although his expression remained impassive.

“I missed you too, Koneko.” Kakashi answered, winding his hands tighter around the younger’s waist. Then he cleared his throat and lightly nudged Naruto away. “I am immensely glad to see you three. I’d normally drag you over to the nearest restaurant and coax stories out of you, but the Hokage ordered me to bring you to him whenever one of you showed.”

Naruto tilted his head. “Was this about the inter-universe pathways weakening? I was told to relay the warning as well.”

Sakura and Sasuke both nodded. “I was told something along the same lines.” Said the latter.

“Well, let’s get going.” Kakashi sighed, and shunshined away.

Sasuke materialized a four point-bladed fuuma-shuriken from nowhere and threw it towards the Hokage mansion in the distance. Sakura simply fell into a running stance and vanished.

Before Sasuke could do anything, Naruto settled a hand on his shoulder. “Sasuke… I would like to spar with you, sometime. I believe it is… important.”

The raven smirked. “Catch me, and then we’ll talk.” He said, and vanished in a burst of bluish-purple dust motes.

Naruto lowered his hand, and smirked. A Makyo Hyousho formed in front of him without any handsign, and both he and his companion darted in.

Meanwhile, Kakashi appeared in the Hokage’s office, beaming.

“Kakashi, how many times do I have to tell you to knock?” Hiruzen smiled good-naturedly. He still hadn’t forgiven his student’s student’s student, but there was little use of irritation unless they were sure Naruto somehow wouldn’t appear at all. Danzo had chastised him on losing the Uchiha heir this way, but, honestly, Hiruzen didn’t care much.

“They have returned, Hokage-sama.” He said, and as if to prove his words, Sakura appeared next to him.

“Hokage-sama.” She greeted.

A very familiar Makyo Hyousho formed in the air, and Hirzen felt a huge weight roll off his shoulders when Naruto stepped through.

A gleaming shuriken suddenly impacted the window frame, but before anyone could react, Sasuke materialized, and used the shuriken as a pivot to both dislodge it and whirl himself into the room. “Hokage-sama.” He greeted.

 The Hokage raised an eyebrow in askance, but when none of the three in front of him made a move to speak, he began. “First off, I would like to apologize for your sensei’s actions. H was completely out of line-“

“I’m sorry, Sandaime-sama,” akura interrupted with an apologetic expression on her face. “but our sensei had our best interests at heart. As for our… travel, I would say that this journey has allowed us to grow as people, and definitely done a lot for our … general abilities as well. I, for one, wouldn’t not go on this journey even if I had chance to.”

“I agree.” Sasuke interjected, caressing his hand as if in rememberance, “what w have been through… what I, have been through at least, has given me  new perspective on the world. I hope to make up for lost time.”

Naruto simply nodded, but felt lighter at heart knowing that his supposed ‘team members’ could at least relate to this.

“Very well.” The Hokage drawled hesitantly, then his face morphed into a very business-like manner. “In tht case, I will treat your… journeys, was it? Yes, I will treat your journeys as separate S-rank missions. You three are the only ones so far that I know of who have returned from the procedure after the dimensional pathways were damaged. I will, of course, transfer the payment to your respective shinobi accounts and expect a full report, but right here and now, I would like a summary of which clan you have contacted with, and a description of your abilities.”

The three Genin exchanged a glance. The instantly knew that all three had been given the same message, in no uncertain terms. However, Sasuke withdrew a scroll and set it on the table. “I apologize for this transgression, Hokage-sama, but we will be unable to write a report. Before we left the universes we traversed, we were asked… no… commanded not to disclose what had come to pass. However, we can certainly share about the abilities we have come to learn, but can teach it to no one since they have not travelled to the particular dimension we have.” He gestured to the scroll. “However, in the brief moments I… had control, for a lack of better term, I was able to seal pieces of advanced technology into the sealing scroll I rudimentarily fashioned, and would like to submit it to the technology division.”

Hearing this, Sakura and Naruto both withdrew their own scrolls and placed it next to Sasuke’s. While Sakura did this out of loyalty to Konohagakure, Naruto did this simply because he wanted Konoha at its strongest, so that crushing it would be more fun.

Wihout a pause, Sakura began. “The universe I visited, the land of Fiore, did not house anyone with the ability to use chakra. They, however, had a similar energy they used to perform ‘magic’, which I have exchanged my capability to use chakra for. My primary form of magic, ‘Archive’, allows me to convert any information I know into magical waves and stored in a database in my brain that can only be accessed by magic. I have documented all known types of magic, and have mastered all but the few I was not able to store before the world… ended, after thousand years.”

Igoring the fact that her kekkei-genkai would now be useless since she had no chakra fowing through her, the Hokage focused on the most glaring of statements. “I beg your pardon, ar you insinuating you were alive for thousand years?”

“Hai, Hokage-sama.” Sakura agreed, but said no more on the subject. “A few examples of the magic I have come to master are – Teleportation, Memory-make, Celestial Gate Magic, Requip, All kinds of Devil and God Slayer magics, the Arcs of Creation and Time, and, through my Dragon summons, Dragon Slayer magics.”

Everyone stared at her for a couple of minutes, jut trying to take it all in. The implications…

“While I would very much likt to ask you several questions about those, I will hold off on my curiosity to be pleasantly surprised.” The Hokage said in a shaky voice. “Regardless, Sasuke, kindly continue.”

“Hai.” The raven said, then materialized a simple lance in his hand. “My very fighting style is imbued with magic, and I too had to give up my chakra to practice it, although my sharingan remains. My main ability is to manifest weapons from a pocket dimension. These weapons are special, however, and allow me to warp to their location or 6 meters around them. Additionally, I have several spells in my repertoire – from simple spells of Fire, Blizzard, Thunder, and Aero, to abstract spells like Stop, Poison, and Ruin. Additionally, I have an infinite number of summons, since calling them to my aid requires no magic. I rule over them, after all. However, amongst these, six are the rulers, and can only be summoned in dire circumstances.”

Everyone in the room save for Team 7 was not sweating bullets. Infinite summons? And an ability that sounded a lot like the Yondaime’s Hiraishin? And what was this about ruling over them?

The Hokage shakily gestured for Naruto to continue.

“While I have nothing as powerful as my comrades here,” he began, although the creature on his shoulder smacked the back of his head with its tail in chastisement, “I have lerned to control the elements with my very thought, and have mastered all I have at my disposal. Additionally, I seem to be something of an anomaly, even in the summoning realm.” With a dramatic pause, he continued. “I have two summoning contracts.”

The Hokage dropped the pipe in his hands. “I beg your pardon?”

Naruto smirked amusedly at his supposed leader. “To be technical, I and the Kyuubi each have two different summoning affinities, but since I am his vessel, we are considered one. I was first transported to a realm of eternal night called Las Nosches, home to beings who devour souls to survive. This was where Kyuubi-sama’s affinity lay. I had to best an upwards of five hundred notable individuals, each with their own special abilities, and had to lead the charge against an entire other realm with individuals who policed these ‘Arrancar’. Time does not pass there as it does here, and with the use of a special travelling mode, I was able to arrive the very moment I departed from here after the next part of my journey. On winning, I have earned their loyalty, and bonded them each to a summoning contracted created by a member of the defeated army that I signed and then sealed away forever. Next, I visited a realm where the people are divided into four separate nations, according to the four elemental affinities they may be born with – water, earth, fire, and air. I assimilated the being with a spirit who could manipulate all of these, and brought peace to the land. Additionally, I am able to call upon the spirits of that realm to aid me here.”

The Hokage wearily put his face in his hands. “I am getting to old for this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the late post. I wrote and deleted almost thirty versions of this chapter, and continuously debated whether or not to dive into the exams as Team 7 is currently, or simply proceed with the Three Tails capture arc for the Shoton. Additionally, I debated the contracts themselves, and spent a lot of time on that.
> 
> I have already written out the Sasuke in Final Fantasy 15 thingamajig, but I'll post it after I'm done with the 'Pre SHippuden' part of this story. Sakura's Fairy Tail and Naruto's Bleach/ Avatar pieces will also be posted along the same time.
> 
> I will be adding up the explanation for the techniques later, and am debating on another chapter entirely for it, making the other ANs significantly shorter. 
> 
> Sasuke wear's Noctis' Prince Fatigues from the game.
> 
> Sakura wears Sera's White Mage outfit from FF13-2, with the dangling sheaths for her tessen added on.
> 
> Naruto wears the outfit in the link after the next sentence - obviously, there are no blue arrows on either the outfit or himself, and had the Uzumaki red hair with the whisker marks on (and the leemur's colors are inverted). Credit goes to the user who made it, but I don't know who did, so if you do, lemme know. 
> 
> https://orig02.deviantart.net/33bc/f/2012/227/c/9/aang_redesigned_by_osy057-d5b92sh.jpg


	10. Obituary: Prospect

“Now, then, my cute little genin.” Kakashi beamed at them from behind his book (which Naruto was currently eyeing and chanelling his inner Azula), “Since we have the Chuunin exams just tomorrow, I would like to get a grasp of where you stand exactly before I submit your names.”

“And I would like to see your new abilities in action.” Hiruzen added in, clearly audible despite having a pipe in his mouth.

Kakashi nodded his head. “To that effect, let’s begin immediately. Do any of the three of you have any sensing capabilities?”

Naruto shook his head, while Sasuke simply said, “No, sensei.”

However, Sakura grinned and nodded. “I do! I’m guessing you’re gonna want to keep our activities this evening a secret?”

Kakashi rolled his single visible eye and nodded.

“Okay, then, here I go!” Sakura proclaimed, and suddenly there was a pink circle with strange writing on the ground with her at the center. Everyone else present eyed it with intrigue clearly on their faces.

Sakura remained silent for a few minutes, scanning the trees, before her eyes landed on a spot not far away. “Got you!” she grinned, and vanished in a blur. She reappeared with… an ANBU in her grasp.

“That… Hokage-sama…” Kakashi trailed, eyeing his leader sideways. He didn’t exactly know why Ne wasn’t done away with… scratch that, he did. He was in ANBU, in what felt like another lifetime, and he knenw that there was a certain brand of missions normal shinobi just weren’t meant to take. Konoha General’s Psychiatric ward still housed so many ninja quitters who couldn’t handle the stress after a mission gone wrong. He just wished Danzo was not so damned nosy…

“I’ll deal with it.” The Hokage’s kagebunshin said, slapping a seal onto the Ne ANBU and letting him drop back onto the ground without further action.

Kakashi sweatdropped. “Anyway…”

“Got it, Kakashi sensei!” Sakura said yet again, and crouched on the ground. She began to wave her fingers around, and pink energy outlined strange script in the air. Naruto notted it seemed to be the same strange language. Finally, Sakura slammed her hand on the ground. The script seemed to flow right in, and translucent pink walls seemed to rise a few hundred meters or so away. “There. Not only will no one disturb us, but our energes will not be detected by anyone outside either.”

“That seemed very similar to Fuuinjutsu.” The Hokage noted.

“It’s called Jutsu Shiki. After comprehensive studying of Ancient Runes, the user is able to string together phrases and numbers in order to establish an area with certain conditions, which have to be created in an if true and if false format. A formula, essentially.” Sakura explained. “For example, I just established this perimeter with the conditions, ‘If the person who enters is unaware of my departure for learning summoning, entry is denied’ and ‘If energy output in the barrier is greater than one unit, block all energy from exiting the barrier’. What the magic will do is check the first part of those phrases. If they are true, the specified action, which is the second half, will be carried out. If the check fails, i.e. it is proven to be false, nothing will happen.”

 _‘That is a lot like fuuinjutsu…’_ Kakashi and Hiruzen both thought together.

“Okay then. That’s one interesting ability.” Kakashi smiled. “So, now what we will be doing is a simple spar.”

Sasuke arched an eyebrow. “Are you sure, Kakashi-sensei? I can not speak for my peers, but I alone would be more than enough for this.”

“Maa maa, but that’s the catch! We will be doing this all individually. First you will go, Sasuke. Then, Sakura. And finally, Naruto. The objective is more to see what you have learned than actual practice.” Kakashi said, holding a finger up. “Now, be warned, I have not been idle in the time the three of you were away. Where I had let my skills deteriorate to A-rank after I quit the ANBU, I have been training myself in the past week to reach my previous S ranking. I won’t go easy on you.”

The three genin seemed to smirk as one.

Naruto and Sakura leapt backwards as Sasuke broke into a dash forwards. A bladed polearm materialized in his right hand which he hurled at Kakashi. Just a second before it could impact the Jounin who immediately slipped into a defensive stance, the weapon vanished, and Sasuke reappeared holding a greatsword. He swung the flat end of it, catching the Hatake with surprise at the strength behind the swing, as he was sent headlong into the air.

While Kakashi gained his bearings midair and lifted his hitai-ate to reveal his Sharingan, Sasuke closed his fists, which began to leak crimson energy. When the jounin looked back, he found two black spheres barely containing crimson energy being hurled right at him. He flashed through handsigns before he was encased in rock.

Just in time, as the two spheres exploded in bright and hot flame.

“Sorry, my hand slipped.” Sasuke remarked, crouching and materializing a strange sword… was that an engine as it’s guard?!

Hiruzen’s kagebunshin simply sighed and rolled its eyes as it too leapt back, muttering something about overeager children.

Meanwhile, the cocoon Kakashi had encased himself with collided with the ground and split apart, revealing nothing within. Sasuke on seeing this, quickly threw the sword straight overhead, and began channeling white energy into his other hand.

Just in time… the ground erupted at his feet, revealing Kakashi’s hand, which had a strong grasp on his shin, and pulled. Midway through the execution of the Shinzu Zanshu no Jutsu, when both target and user were partway through the ground, Sasuke vanished in a swirl of magic, and reappeared directly above a still moving Kakashi, throwing the orb with precision and grasping his sword as well, then giving into gravity.

Kakashi had felt that he had caught the maggic user, but when he vanished he was still half encased in the ground and couldn’t abort the movement. Not wanting to waste Kamui in a non life-threatening situation, he quickly substituted with a nearb log and watched from afar as it was ripped apart by sheer concusive force alone.

‘ _Not life threatening, my ass.’_ The jounin sweatdropped, and launched five of his Raiton: Raiju Tsuiga from his hiding spot, and leapt high into the air while charging a Raikiri.

Sasuke just smirked, and materialized a silver bow. He then fired rapidly, destroying the beasts faster than the time t took for Kakashi to fully power up his signature jutsu. He then looked up and Kakashi and simply intoned, “Stop.’

The ex-ANBU froze in midair. His jutsu, which relied on continuous movement of ration chakra through the epidermis of his hand, fizzled out.

“Try this, sensei.” Sasuke grinned, and crouched, slamming hs hand onto the ground.

A tremor. Two tremors. The ground began shaking and cracking.

And then the creatures burst forth.

Not one, no. Not two, or three, or ten, or even fifty. Hundreds of what looked like gigantic silver mosquitoes began to fly into the air. They all charged a sphere of pure white energy.

“Let’s see you dodge-“

“Enough.” Hiruzen’s kagebunshin said, leaping down from his perch. “You have demonstrated your strength in effortlessly taking down a Jounin… especially so since you were not even fully trying… were you, Sasuke?”

Sasuke just smirked. The hundreds of creatures n the air simply vanished.

“Very well.” Kakashi sighed. “Can you put me down, no- oof!” Kakashi was rudely dropped in the middle of his request.

“Sorry sensei.” Sasuke yelled from where he had leapt back to. “My control just slipped!”

Kakashi’s leg twitched on the ground.

“It’s my turn, now! Watching can be so boring…” Sakura sighed, leaping down from the trees. “Hey sensei, get up! We don’t have all evening, you know.”

Kakashi grudgingly complied, cracking the stiffs out of his neck. “Something tells me this is just ‘beat on our sensei’ day…”

Sakura grinned widely. So wide, Anko probably should be taking lessons on creepy grins from her. “But we haven’t even started, sensei!”

A pink runic circled materialized in front of her. He swiped through it, and thrust her hand out. “Abyss Break!”

Kakashi cartwheeled to his left, noting with resigned amusement that the area he was just standing in (and a good sretch of ground behind that) looked like a horse had just trampled through it. _‘She’s a distance fighter… but there is no telling if she’s gotten good with close combat either. Let’s gauge her distance skills…’_ Kakashi flashed through handsigns and sent forth a gigantic waer dragon from his mouth.

Sakura sweatdropped. _‘How does that work again, anyway? He has a facemask on, right?’_ She simply stood there as the jutsu approached her, and just when it was about to hit her, she opened her mouth wide and sucked it all in.

“Thirsty, are we?” Kakashi deadpanned. Internally, chibi Kakashi was waving a white flag rapidly.

Sakura wiped her mouth. “Why does that taste like apples? Anyway, you into water magic? Let’s get this show on the road! Sea King Dragon’s Encircling Deluge!” She yelled, and thrust her hand upwards.

The poor ground cracked again, and a potentially village-threatening amount of water sprayed up like a geyser, directly under Kakashi’s feet. Caught by surprise at the sheer mass of water, he let himself get caught in the technique by mistake and wound up spinning around in a mid-air whirlpool.

“I’m not done yet! Lightning Dragon’s Heavenward Halberd!”

In spit of having a ration affinity, the energies of Sakura’s technique almost knocked Kakashi unconscious as the water burst upward after being electrified, throwing a screaming Kakashi high above the stratosphere. The Wizard Saint snapped her fingers and the water vanished.

The four in the training grounds waited calmly for the Jounin to come scraming back down. When he was finally within her gaze (and earshot… wow he has some lungs on him, huh?) Sakura used telekinesis to catch him and lower him to the ground gently.

“Do you want me to go on? I could kill you in more than thousand ways, sensei!” Sakura cheerfully grinned.

Kakashi gave her the stink eye.

Hiruzen chuckled. “No, no, Sakura, that will be enough.” _‘If she has master this… Dragon Slayer Magic for each of the five elements, at least… ninjutsu head-on would be ineffective against her…’_

Sakura waved jauntily and simply vanished, presumably back into the tree branch she was perched upon before. Naruto was almost intantly in her place.

“Shall we begin, Koinu?” Naruto asked innocently, falling into a strange stance.

The older of the two combatants, sick and tred of being thrown around, did not even respons and charged in, hands coated with ration chakra.

Naruto effortlessly blocked or dodged every blow. Kakashi threw a right hook, which was ducked under. He jabbed forward, which ws avoided with a twirl. He then followed up with a double roundhouse kick that made Naruto first sidestep and then vault over him. Robes still fluttering, Naruto gestured forward with both of his hands, and a powerful gust of wind blew Kakashi away, bouncing off the ground.

Naruto dropped his stance, crouched, and then jumped forward. Md-charge, fire began to burst out of his palms and feet, propelling him forwards at insane speeds in combination with Sonido. He appeared behind Kakashi and delivered a solid punch straight into his gut, that sent him skidding back.

Kakashi managed to recover just in time to block a solid punch with a side-block, and grabbed onto the hand. He charged a rasengan in his other hand and pushed it forward without really thinking about it.

First he was overcome by horror, and then confusion when Naruto weathered the S-rank jutsu like it was a simple gust of wind. What, was his skin made of steel or something?

Naruto too grabbed back on Kakashi’s hand, and grinned. “I guess I can see where Sakura is coming from.” He admitted, charging up a Cero with his other hand’s pointer finger. “Fighting is fun.”

Kakashi panicked, and activated his Mangekyou to warp the attack away. Naruto took his chance to slam his foot on the ground, and a wide pillar of earth slammed straight into Kakashi’s midsection.

Naruto jumped onto the pillar and ran up it, towards the end where Kakashi, panting but recovering, was running through handsigns. He then held his hand to his face and let out a massiv barrage of small fireballs. The Avatar simply batter away the annoyances witht his hands, and jumped high, using Reiryoku to passively increase the height of the jump as he eased into a lightningbending stance, and shot off blast after blast of lightning.

Kakashi, now on the underside of the still-emerging pillar, backflipped through everal of the potential-impacts, and launched off the pillar onto the ground, where he sunk deep into it.

“It’s no use.” Naruto noted, and simply gestured with his hand. “You can not hide from me.”

The entire training grounds erupted, and Kakashi mightily proclaimed, “I give up, dammit!”

In a heartbeat, Naruto was in front of him and pecked his cheek. “Good choice.”

Kakashi seemed like a certain Nara talking about troublesome blondes.

 

***

 

The next morning found Team 7 walking to the assigned examination building, talking. Currently, the three were discussing battle strategies after Sakura cast a sound-distortion spell around their little group.

While Naruto preferred to normally keep his team at arm’s length, they passed a few h ours after the sparring the day before each telling their stories to the other, after checking for any unwanted scrutiny and spy devices, of course. As of now, the young Uzumaki respected his peers beyond doubt – Sakura, for surviving a thousand years and amassing knowledge that he would very much love to get his hands on, and Sasuke for simply being faster than his own Sonido or Makyo Hyosho in combat and overcoming his emo-brat phase.

In battle, none of them preferred the support or ranged role. The whole point of Sasuke’s fighting style was getting in close, and he could summon one of his many creatures for that. Sakura, on the other hand, preferred using her Arc of Creation to create supporting monsters while she herself charged in with Arcs of Time and Embodiment magics for those she deemed worthy, or simply using Memory Make for those she thought ‘too easy’ and beat them with their own magic, or jutsu in this universe – unless she was _extremely_ bored, in which case she’d use whatever to just pass the tme. Naruto remained much the same, his fancy shifting depending on the situation, though he now favored futon over the other elements, in spite of ‘connecting and mastering’ with all the bending disciplines back on Earth.

Thus, they agreed to a simple decision – if, in the exam, teams were pitted against other teams, they’d play Jankenpo for it and the winner would fight against the team. Or, if all teams were involved, they’d just go their separate ways and take down as many as they could.

“And then, we can match up our numbers with each other and see who wins – the winner gets one spell or ability taught to them by the two losers!” Said Sakura, eyes burning with the desire to actually bend elements from Naruto and Sasuke’s Megacast: Trivalent – a spell that allowed him to fire a single copy of all the spells he knew fused into one. She assumed the Elemental Nations would probably crumble under the raw magical force if her Lost Magics were all fired as one… but that was the fun part: Experimentation! After all, she had a LOT of mana thanks to unlocking her sixth origin and assimilating the Inner Sakura into her own personality, which gave her power almost equal to Naruto’s chakra levels the night of Yagura’s death (not that she knew that, of course). Now, if only she could learn better control…

“I think that’s a good idea.” Naruto agreed, his own eyes shining. After all, the two never said _how_ they were going to learn it… and he had a theory he wanted to put to the test.  Although his two teammates could no longer use the Kagebunshin…

It was then that they came up to the examination building. They quietened immediately, unanimously resolving not to give away their status just yet. Naruto flew into the open window of their assigned room, Sakura teleported in, and Sasuke warped.

They took in the crowded room and were relieved not having to face the annoyance of a crowd’s attention on them yet. None of the three wanted to have to put someone down so soon after all…

“Oh there you guys are!” a voice yelled over the quiet murmur, and a familiar boy approached them with a white canine riding his head.

“Inazuka-san, Akamaru-kun.” Sakura greeted, then spotted said boys’ team members behind him. “Hinata-san. Shino-san.” Sasuke and Naruto simply nodded.

“I am surprised. Why? It seems that we do not happen to be the only rookie team here.” Shino quietly noted, sending out three chakra bugs discreetly to gauge his fellow villagers.

“A- ano… ohaiyo.” Hinata stammered out, blushing when she caught Naruto’s gaze, who simply nodded at her.

 “What’s with that ridiculous outfit anyway, Naruto-baka?” Kiba demanded, eyeing Naruto in surprise. “That’s more of a burden that your old jumpsuit!”

While Kiba thought as such, both Shino and Hinata realized that if he could move around as he did before in something so obstructive, it probably meant that he was far stronger than he was before, overall speaking.

“Troublesome. It just means he’s gotten better, Kiba.” A lazy drawl said, and Shikamaru walked out from the crowd to join his compatriots.

“Sakura-chan!” Ino greeted, excitedly walking over. “’ah sure hope ya’ve been practisin’. After all, ‘ah wouldn’t want ya to fail so easily, ya know?”

“One must wonder how people understand you, Ino-san. Why? Because you have developed a strange accent and slur some of your words.” Shino stated, then paled behind the cover of his sunglasses and nose-high collar of his jacket when said Yamanaka turned her attention onto him.

“What was that?!” she screeched.

“Calm, Ino!” Choji hurriedly said, grasping onto her hands and holding her back. “We shouldn’t draw attention to ourselves, that’s what Shika said!”

“Took the words right out of my mouth, Choji-kun!” A boy in green spandex said, almost materializing next to him. “Yosh! Your flames of youth must burn as equally bright as mine!”

“A- ano… flames of y-youth?” Hinata asked, confused.

“Don’t mind him, he’s caught our sensei’s ‘Youthful’ disease.” A girl said, walking over. “I’m Tenten, by the way. That guy over there is Rock Lee, and our teammate is Hyuuga Neji.”

The boy next to her, in a white hoodie, brown shorts, and bandages wrapped over his wrists nd under his blue shinobi sandals, nodded and proceeded to glare at Hinata. “I didn’t know they were accepting deadlasts into the exams.” He said loftily, eyeing Naruto. “But then again, our own team member is here, so.”

Silence reigned in the group… and then Sakura broke into laughter. Sasuke began chuckling and Naruto simply smirked.

“I do not find that statement humorous.” Shino said. Although he did not believe Naruto was as weak as he previously was, he was certainly confused.

“I see you haven’t read a bingo book yet.” Shikamaru drawled, handing said object over to Neji, open. “Read that entry.”

Teams 8, 9, and Ino and Choji gathered around the book, then started spluttering.

“Y- you beat the Yondaime Mizukage?!” Kiba began spluttering. Unfortunately, that statement was heard by quite the many other aspiring Chuunin, and conversation momentarily halted.

Naruto arched an eyebrow in askance.

“You should already be Chuunin! Or even a Jounin, at this point!” Tenten whispered, eyes wide.

Before Naruto could answer, another voice interrupted. “You should all quiet down. You’re drawing attention to yourselves.” A hesitant yet somehow stern voice sounded, and the twelve clustered Konoha Genin turned to acknowledge the speaker.

“Yakushi Kabuto.” The white haired man offered in introduction.

“Hey, we’re maintainin’ a perfectly normal tone of voice, yaknow.” Ino sniffed.

Kabuto sighed. “Yes. I’m sure. That’s why everyone in the hall is staring at you right now.”

And indeed, the whole hall was staring at them, in mixed expressions of bewilderment, anger, amusement, and challenge. Ino squeaked.

“You look kinda old to be here, however.” Choji stated.

Kabuto looked abashed. “Um… let’s just say I’ve been trying my best in this exam for a very long time.”

“How many times?” Hinata shyly asked, hoping to come off as understanding.

“Seven times.” The man admitted, scratching the back of his head.

Team 7 was instantly on guard.

Kiba whistled. “Wow. You must know a lot about them, then.”

Kabuto’s expression turned smug. “You could say that. Because I failed so many times, I’ve made it a point to study everyone who enters.” Under Team 7’s nonchalant suspicious gazes, he withdrew a stack of what looked like cards. “These nin-info cards are encoded to my chakra, and have information on everyone in this room.”

Neji immediately stepped forth. “I would like information on the members of team 7. I am prepared to offer monetary recompense.”

“Neji!” Tenten cried, aghast. “They’re from our village!”

“Who we will be facing in this exam.” Neji replied without skipping a beat. “While I will definitely take the information provided with a grain of salt, I will obviously seize the opportunity.

Watching the byplay, Kabuto blushed slightly, signaling embarrassment, but Sakura immediately caught on to the fact that it was a pretense, trained as she was to Mirajane’s acting when it came to maintaining said mage’s anonymity. “Ano… it’s okay. Since you’re from my village, it’s fine.” He withdrew three cards from the deck, and knelt. Setting them on the floor, he flared them with a brief touch of his chakra, and writing materialized on it. Curious, Team 7 allowed this.

“To begin with, Team 7 is designated as a frontline combat team under the tutelage of Sharingan no Kakashi, a man who’s reputed to have copied over a thousand jutsu. The team is well varied, having set at least into the beginning stges of almost every shinobi discipline. Their collective mission record is… hold on, this can’t be right.” The nin stammered, paling.

“What can’t be right?” Naruto asked, smirking. He knew very well what caught Kabuto’s interest.

“You… you guys… 847 D Ranks, 657 Cranks, 568 B ranks, 698 A Ranks, and 220 S Ranks! And none of the members have ever shecked into Konoha General, which means they all were completed without major or any injuries at all! How in the-“

“That is for us to know, and you to find out.” Sakura giggled, but her face morphed into confusion when she noted nearly everyone elses horror-struck expressions. “Um… guys?”

Neji snapped out of his trance first. “That… is formidable. Please continue.” Inwardly, he was cursing fate for pairing him up with such monsters.

This snapped everyone else out of their trances too. They were heavily re-evaluating everthing they thought of Team 7.

“First off, we have Haruno Sakura. Graduated with the highest written scores in the academy, the girl is gifted with extreme chakra control. Her grandmother, Kurama Niisha, married in from the Kurama clan, so this is a little surprise. Her learning ability is rated the highest in history, falling short only under legendary names such as Senju Tsunade, Orochimaru, and Senju Tobirama. Her taijutsu is rated C, Genjutsu A, ninjutsu D, Iryojutsu B, and overall B rank. No personal mission record.”

“Ya know Iryojutsu?!” Ino whispered harshly.

“In a sense.” Answered Sakura likewise. She smirked outwardly at Ino’s frustrated countenance but frowned when she realized that individual ninja profiles are not so readily available, even to the village’s own ninja. After all, information is the currency of the ninja world, in a sense.

“Next, we have Uchiha Sasuke. He graduated as the Rookie of the Year from his Ninja batch, and has maintained his considerable talents over the months, obviously. The last legal scion of the Uchiha Clan, he is known across the elemental nations. He has an almost preternatural grasp over bakudanjutsu, katon ninjutsu, and bukijutsu. Taijutsu is rated A, ninjutsu A, and genjutsu B, no other special talents. Overall A rank.”

At this point in time the entire hall was listening in, and Team 7 was prickling in agitation. Not only was this actor proficient enough to sneak into the shinobi archives, he probably had spies everywhere since their own databanks hadn’t been updated since the Nami no Kuni mission. Shikamaru himself was tensed ever so slightly, wondering what would happen.

“Finally,” said Kabuto, igniting anoher card with his chakra, “we have Uzumaki Naruto, dubbed the Konohagakure no Akuma, the last known member of the famed Uzumaki clan.” He said, then spluttered. “W- wait, it says here that he’s the jin-“

He could say not more, since an orange chain was currently lodged into his throat.

“I’d appreciate,” said Naruto, sounding annoyed yet bored at the same time, “if you didn’t rat out SS-class secrets to the entire elemental nations, _Kabuto-kun_.” Then, he pulled.

Everyone in the room save for a smirking Sasuke and a grinning Sakura backed away when a white silhouette emerged with the chain, and was sucked into Naruto’s palm.

“Thank kami.” Sakura muttered, walking over and kicking the corpse for good measure. “I was getting tired of his yammering. I never knew hearing how weak people think you are can be so annoying!”

“Well, at least he’s dead now.” Sasuke offered, and everyone present looked at them bewildered. Except for a team from Otogakure, who simply sweatdropped.

“Kabuto!” one of the man’s teammates shouted. “You’ll pay for that you-“

He stopped, and shuddered, the suddenly fell _apart_. Cubes of human meat fell to the floor, and then was set on fire a few seconds later.

“That,” Sakura beamed, “was Crash magic. I literally break into pieces anything I want, whether living or non-living. It came in handy loads of times.”

“I bet.” Sasuke whistled, only slightly green. Seeing Gladiolus (his heart panged at the reminder) gut so many creatures had given him some sort of resistance to puking in such situations, but still. Instead of doing so, he gazed impassively at the lone team-member remaining. “If I were you, I’d surrender right now.”

The man was already shaking in fear. Sure, being under Kabuto, and by extension Orochimaru, he’d seen a lot of gruesome ways to die, but this… his eyes suddenly rolled back into his head (not that you could see it, of course, through his dark glasses) and fell backwards, fainted.

“Pathetic.” Sasuke spat.

“What did you expect?” Naruto spoke, finally opening his eyes from the onslaught of memories. “Traitors tend to feel fear more than most when they’re trapped. Although, since he never was loyal to Konoha, I wouldn’t exactly class him as a traitor…”

“Hardly a surprise they are.” Sakura grumbled, scrutinizing her nails. “Seven times… seriously? They should at least have been under discrete observation.”

“Well…” Sasuke sweatdropped, “when you consider that there have been ninja who’ve failed as many as thirteen times…”

The other two members of team 7 sweatdropped.

 

***

 

“Settle down, maggots! Or I’ll forci-“

Morino Ibiki was not having a pleasant day. He’d only just finished interrogating a spy who’d been foolish enough to assume that Konoha would be less guarded due to the Chuunin exams to sneak in. He personally believed Iwa was smarter than that.

Anyway, he had only just sat down in his office and sighed heavily when an ANBU informed him that he was suddenly selected to proctor the first part of said exams, since Hayate had a coughing fit and was assigned proctorship at a later date.

He had to think of a whole test with the available question paper on his way over here.

Since he was so grumpy, he only stopped and stared at the pile of smouldering ashes, the body of a white-haired male who was bleeding out, and another who looked to be breathing, thankfully.

“I’m getting too old for this shit.”

 

 


	11. Obituary: Scale

“This is annoying.” Naruto grumbled in a previously uncharacteristic show of emotion, grinding a rock to dust with his foot. Unfortunately, his lemur friend Kashhoku had opted to return to his apartment (which, surprisingly, the Hokage had upgraded from the Red-light district to the shinobi district in his absence, and maintained it in case he returned), deeming the tests too boring. Currently, Naruto had to agree.

It was the fourth day of the examinations, and Naruto was utterly bored. Only eighteen teams had made it through to this stage, and the sheer size of Training Grounds 44 meant that Naruto had a low chance of encountering many. And indeed, he’d only met three teams, all of whom he’d utterly annihilated with nothing but Sonido and Bala. He didn’t even think of using a Cero, unless he wanted to see the entire forest disintegrate.

He wondered how Sakura and Sasuke were doing. Were they already at the tower, turning in their scrolls? Nah. As per their agreement, they’d all wait for the last hour before turning into the tower. Sakura emphasized how important mages took vows, and Sasuke had honor even before their Journey, however little.

He sighed for the umpteenth time. He assumed, after all that hype, that there would be some strong contenders in the examinations. The only thing they were was _weak_. Utterly pathetic. Even the trio from the reclusive Otogakure village were pathetic – all bark and no bite.

Standing, Naruto sighed yet gain and let weightlessness flood him, taking to the skies to better scout for teams.

 

*****

 

Sakura wasn’t faring much better.

So irrevocably bored, something that inspired fear even in Makarov back in Fiore, Sakura had taken to laying traps using Jutsu Shiki, and even then only two teams had fallen into her clutches. Absently playing around with Earth-Make, she strolled through the forest, launching Crash spells at the wildlife that approached looking for their next meal. Hell, she wondered how-

No.

The ball of pulsing earth suddenly spiked and shattered. NO, she would not think of him. He betrayed her, he turned against her when she needed him most. How could she-?

She closed her eyes, and a flash of black hair and a shy smile filled her vision yet.

With a snarl, the Archmage took to the trees using Speed, and eventually into the sky using Aera. She wouldn’t think of him, no, she wouldn’t. Fortunately, she was saved from further self-loathing thoughts by the sight of her teammate.

“Oi, Naruto!” She called, and flew closer. She couldn’t afford to think about the past and lose control.

“Ohayo, Sakura.” The redhead greeted, a slight smile on his lips. It wasn’t shy, and his eyes certainly were not filled with regret. Yes, this was easier to live with.

Before they could say more, a loud explosion drew their gazes.

 

*****

 

In retrospect, Sasuke should have been surprised no one had tried this before. His brother had meticulously slashed every Sharingan eye that fateful night, so he technically had the only operable pair in existence, unless there were other Uchiha in hiding. He smirked as he warped to the katana embedded in the tree a few feet away. Well, no one was getting their hands on his own.

“Your body is mine, Sasuke-kun!” the man laughed manically, before his hands blurred into handseals. Sasuke cringed. That phrase sounded hundred times worse coming from this snake bastard’s mouth than it ever did coming from Gladio. His fingers tightened on the handle of the weapon reflexively.

“Mandara no Jin!” the man proclaimed, and begin to… spit  out snakes…

“What is with you and spitting things out?!” Sasuke yelled, flinging a pair of daggers into the air in different directions to warp to. “I mean, I get that snakes have no other openings, but seriously, get some style!”

The man showed no reaction, but anyone on the other side of his head would have seen him sweatdropping.

Regardless, Sasuke quickly warped to the first dagger and grabbed it, flinging it further. Another warp later, he closed his fist and gathered ambient wind natured chakra from the air, encasing it with his magic. He felt the spell take shape into his hands, and as soon as it did, he warped to the first dagger he’d thrown, which had now landed short of its mark, but close enough.

“Aeroga!” he yelled, throwing what looked like a black grenade barely holding pulsing grey energy. As soon as it made contact with the tsunami of snakes, it exploded, whipping up a tiny maelstrom that sucked the entire wave in. The snakes, being summoned creatures, dispersed s soon as they were near the epicenter.

Sasuke warped to the same katana as before. The maelstrom had ripped off a few trees as well, but luckily his own was still rooted.

“Suck unique powers you have, Sasuke-kun!” the man grinned, eyes alight with a weird mix of curiosity, greed, and battle-euphoria that the Uchiha could spot ven from such a distance. “They will be mine!”

Before Sasuke could retort, A familiar scarf appeared in his vision, and then startling orange light.

 

*****

 

Naruto was _pissed_.

Back in Las Nosches, the strong ruled over the weak – that was the law of the land. One could only ascend to true power after consuming others. It wasn’t begrudged, because _everyone_ did it.

In the spirit world, after Naruto passed though, Vatu also began to employ such a rule. He believed that that particular world was more open to invasion from other universes, and thus its denizens should be able to defend themselves in order to defend their home. Were Naruto not to assimilate Raava and free him, both were sure that when the inevitable occurred and the barriers separating the dimensions broke, the Spirit World would be utterly trampled.

Naruto remembered how prissy Kyuubi became after he had to mold himself with Raava. The beast now had a diamond like glowing white shape on its forehead, and its underbelly had glowing rib like markings akin to that of a fish. Try as he might, Naruto was unable to truly separate them, and he suspected any otherworldly being he absorbed who didn’t resemble humanity even barely, would be directly molded with Kyuubi instead.

 **“This isn’t the time, gaki.”** Kyuubi’s voice rang out, and from his peripheral vision Naruto spotted Sakura land next to Sasuke on the tree branch and put a hand on his shoulder for support. **“That man in front of you is Orochimaru, the thief of Kusanagi no Tsurugi.”**

 _“Do you believe we are ready, Kyuubi-sama?”_ Naruto asked, crossing his arms I a show of defiance to the man in front of him.

 **“Not by a long shot.”** Kyuubi drawled. **“Weren’t you listening to me when I said that man has more jutsu than you under his belt? While you may be able to wipe him off easily, he is not like others. No one is ever truly immortal, but he’s found means of ensuring that wiping him out would be… problematic.””**

 _“It doesn’t matter, not after you and Raava merged. But if I don’t want to slip into ‘that’ state… it’s time to release you.”_ Naruto smirked, already reaching to his back.

 **“I thought you were saving this for a big reveal?”** the beast chuckled, and Naruto involuntarily smirked.

 _“True enough, Kyuubii-sama.”_ Naruto relented. _“Then it would be in our best interests to observe how Sasuke performs.”_

“Sasuke. Sakura.” Naruto bit out, hands already falling to his sides again. “If you do not want to fight, or fight seriously,” he added, with a look to Sasuke, who averted his gaze, “then make for the tower. I will be there momentarily.”

“I’m cool.” Sakura sighed, crossing her arms. “While I am super bored, he doesn’t look like much of a challenge anyway. Sasuke?”

“I… need to speak to Bahamut.” Sasuke said, but stood. “But that can be done after this.”

Sakura sighed. “Well, I don’t want to go off without both of you…” then she promptly sat down. “so I’ll just watch!”

Sasuke rolled his eyes.

“And don’t you think we don’t know you were holding back, Sasuke.” Sakura chastised, eyes narrowed. “This is not even ten percent of what you said you are capable of.”

“Sakura, I don’t think I want to bring in anyone, or enter Armiger.” Sasuke grumbled. “I could handle even the Adamantoise back ho-… back in Eos without much effort. This is-“

“A completely different world, where even the lowest of opponents have speeds you may not have seen in Eos.” Naruto interrupted, and both turned to look. “Never ever _not_ give it your all. Prolonging a battle can give your opponent a chance to recover or rally, and needlessly complicate things.”

From the middle of the now-clearing, both could spot another tsunami of snakes coming forth. “And remember, when you fight, if you do not give it your all,” and at this point, he turned around, and assumed a rigid stance “you insult both yourself, and your capability.” He then _moved_.

 

*****

 

All the citizens of Konohagakure no Sato, from the Red Light District to the shops at the base of the Hokage monument, whether civilian or ninja or mercenary, felt an immense shake of the earth beneath their feet. When it stopped in the next moment, they went about their business more cautious than before.

Sarutobi Hiruzen, who was gazing at the Forest of Death and trying to ignore the temptation to look into his crystal ball, dropped his pipe when he felt the tremor. There were earth-attribute ninja on the watch for natural disasters such as this, so it could only be from a jutsu. And he knew of only a certain redhead who was capable of something like this.

 _“Where did he learn- …oh, wait._ ”

“Hokage-sama!” a voice called out, startled. An ANBU with a Kuma mask slipped into the room so fast you’d think he just dropped a chameleon jutsu. “Hokage-sama, Orochimaru has been spotted around the Second Exam site!”

For one shocked second, there was silence. With nary other word, Hiruzen whipped off his Hokage cloak to show the battle gear underneath. He grabbed his helmet from the nearby pedestal and flung himself outside, Kuma on his heels.

“Explain.” Was the command, and Kuma reflexively swallowed. This was his Hokage in pure shinobi mode… he almost felt sorry for Orochimaru.

“Hebi found a ninja’s corpse without a face. She seemed certain it was him, and given her history, I thought it best not to refute.” He said, leaping effortlessly from building to building.

Hiruzen cursed his luck. He had anticipated something like this. After all, since Orochimaru had been an orphan, he knew him best after Tsunade and Jiraiya, and the latter too had agreed that Sasuke’s Sharingan posed too much a tempting chance for him to pass up. They assumed that the month that the Uchiha progeny wasn’t in the village would spur the traitor into action, and he would attempt to acquire the boy as soon as possible.

They were not disappointed.

“Activate plan C. I don’t think we’ll need to interfere.” Hiruzen said, when another tremor passed, but this time it was stronger, and caused them both to almost falter. However, they spurned themselves on.

“Hokage-sama, with all respect, Orochimaru is far worse than the Yodaime Mizukage could ever be, Sanbi or not.” Kuma replied after a quick hand-sign, due to which a clone split off from his back in a flurry of wood and made way to the rally point. Worry was clearly evident in his voice. “I do not think even Team 7 will be able to take him on.”

Hiruzen risked a sideways glance for naught, since the ANBU mask hid the emotions of the person in question. Instead, he shook his head, and made his way to the southern entrance of Training Ground 44, awaiting the result of the battle.

 

*****

Naruto casually kicked and held his pose as a mountain-worth of rock crashed into the summoned snake. Meanwhile, Sasuke engaged Orochimaru n a one-on-one too fast for even ninja eyes.

“ _They’ve… gotten so strong._ ” Sakura thought, still perched on her tree. “ _Naruto, I understand – the Kyuubi and his Kagebunshin alone would have made him a force to be reckoned with. Add to that his elemental mastery and Byakugan…”_

Sakura abruptly vanished and appeared between the ninja battle and the Otogakure team that came in to support them. “I don’t believe you have been invited.”

The male who wasn’t bandaged whipped his arm out, not breaking his run. “Zankuuhaa!”

Sakura stood her ground, eyeing the approaching wave of sound with distaste. Sound was essentially vibrations in the wind, and vibrations meant energy…

She opened her mouth wide and swallowed the entire wave.

That seemed to knock the idea that Sakura wasn’t to be messed with nito their heads, and the three stopped short.

“Di- did she just…?” the female asked, almost taking a step back.

Sakura simply smiled, and took in a deep breath. She didn’t want to rely on Slayer-magics too much, since it was just too overpowered. However, now that she had consumed energy, no matter how small, she had to release it…

“Karyuu no Hokou!”

The last thought that the three Oto genin had was that they had possibly made a very wrong choice by joining Orochimaru.

 

*****

 

“ _Sakura seems to be having fun, finally._ ” Naruto mused, punching a fist of a veritable hellstorm of fire into the annoyingly resilient summons’s face. “ _Maybe I should end it?_ ”

He then looked over to Sasuke, who was giving off blue-tinged energy in waves as he seemed to be about to activate some sort of form.

“ _Or maybe not._ ” He thought, and sighed, hopping into the air and raining down bolts of lightning.

 

*****

Sasuke was not very worried at all.

While he had returned the Ring of Lucii to Chief Bahamut as it had to be, he still had a lot more to go on. However, he did admit that Orochimaru was too fast for him to simply brute-force his way through. And he was getting annoyed that he could just piece himself back together after all…

He sighed, and leapt back.

“Let’s finish this, Orochimaru.” He spoke out, pulling on the connections with all the Weapons of the Kings he had. In repayment for the Ring of Lucii, Chief Bahamut had blessed them not to harm him at all, thus putting incredibly powerful weapons in his arsenal. Thus, even Armiger was ramped up, both in power (which was not held back by his pain), duration (which he could now hold for nine days straight, at least), and speed (he wasn’t sure how even warping got faster, but there it was). He commanded their allegiance completely, yet he didn’t treat them as tools, but as friends – since they had before displayed signs of sentience in battle when they appeared to block debilitating blows on their own accord.

Sasuke smirked at Orochimaru’s gaze that moved from hunger to shock as the thirteen Weapons of Old materialized around him, and his feet slowly left the ground.

“Let’s get this party started!” he grinned, and vanished.

 

*****

 

Orochimaru never felt fear. Ever. Not since he swore to himself that he’d be the most powerful ninja in the elemental nations. He himself often mused that he was the boogeyman of this generation, and that was without people knowing exactly how he remained the age he is.

So why was his resolve faltering?

Sasuke had only moved to hover closer, but the snake sage wasn’t paying attention anymore. He bit his thumb, slid it across the tattoo on his left wrist, and then slammed his hand onto the ground.

“Kuchiyose no jutsu!”

He felt a little bit calmer once his creation, Manda, was firmly below him. Manda was the result of his own tinkering with the Forest of Death snakes, the Hebi summoning’s clan’s Senjutsu chakra, and a vial of DNA from Hashirama’s cells. Standing and a monstrous size worthy of ay boss summon, Manda had dethroned the previous boss and ensured the snake’s continued loyalty to Orochimaru and his own… namely Anko.

 **“Orochimaru? How dare you summon me here of all places!?”** the voice reverberated. The smoke cleared to show the visage of a greenish-purple snake… or, well, how much Orochimaru could see from the top of his head.

“Manda,” Orochmaru hissed impatiently, “I’ll sacrifice a hundred lives to you. Help me deal with this.”

Manda would have cocked his head if Orochimaru wasn’t on top of it. While he held no love for being summoned, Orochimaru _was_ his father, and so he persevered. Seeing only a single human ahead, he flicked his tongue out to taste the air-

And it was promptly cut off.

Manda reared back in pain, but couldn’t move very far before his neck was slashed through three times, and he dissipated immediately, vanishing into the realm of summons to recuperate.

Orochimaru reacted in time, jumping back from the head of his summons to land on the ground, then backflip into the air again. “Sen’ei Tajashu!”

A dozen snakes leapt from his sleeve to search for the target, but were immediately slashed through and dissipated.

Orochimaru landed, confusion evident on his face.

“Behind you.” He heard Sasuke say, but Orochimaru barely had time to react before he was slashed across his midsection. He had more than enough chakra, however, to activate his life insurance, and snakes emerged from both halves to bring him back together. The landed and then shot towards the threat.

“You’re slow!” yet again the cursed boy spoke, and Orochimaru was suddenly chopped into four separate pieces. He activated his jutsu again, and fused together.

He cursed as his feet planted on solid ground. This jutsu used a lot more chakra than his own brand of substitution, and had very few precious measures of chakra left. “What in the world are you?!” he yelled out to empty air, already blurring throough the next set of handseals, if he could only-

“I am the King of Insomnia!” and he felt his arms being slashed off. He barely saw the glint of a blade in the sunlight that he spat out of this particular shell and shot away.

Only briefly wondering if the latest proclamation by the Uchiha was a weird joke, Orochimaru spun in the spot and blurred through handsigns, spitting out five consecutive water dragons. Sasuke waited for the last moment before vanishing, and then the dragons exploded out in a shower of water.

“ _Why can’t I sense any chakra from him?”_ Orochimaru cursed. His snake style taijutsu relied on sensing an opponent through chakra to counter them, and without that advantage, he was reluctant to fight hand-to-hand with someone who knew the Hiraishin… or whatever this jutsu was. He pushed his salivating greed aside to focus on the battle at hand.

“Is something wrong?” The voices sounded, and Orochimaru whirled on the spot to see Sasuke standing behind him, translucent weapons spinning around his form. With his three-tomoe sharingan active, Sasuke looked like a god…

“The Sharingan will be mine!” Orochimaru yelled, and in a desperate attempt, emerged in his true form.

 

*****

 

Sasuke could only stare in disgust as Orochimaru’s mouth opened wide and a snake made of snakes emerged, its… face… resembling the man himself. He somehow _knew_ about what had happened.

“This is why you will never be immortal, oh sage of snakes.” He intoned, vanishing, and then reappearing behind said man. “True immortality is something that doesn’t exist for humans.”

Behind him, the infamous snake sage erupted in a shower of gore as he split into a hundred pieces.

 

*****

 

And you see, the universe itself lamented this, for the only person who could turn Naruto’s fate around had perished.


	12. Obituary: Paths

Sasuke and Sakura traded worried glances over the head of an incensed Naruto while they waited in the tower’s gigantic battle hall, near the end where the huge statue of a hand making the ram seal was situated against the far wall. While the blonde displayed no emotion, both had plenty experience with people who did not outwardly show any emotion yet felt a turmoil within.

And indeed, within him a turmoil was brewing.

“ _I fucking lost it!_ ” the mental representation of Naruto roared, punching the ‘wall’ outside of Kyuubi’s bars with fervor. “ _He was right there and that Uchiha bastard killed him!_ ”

 **“I don’t know what you’re so pissed about.”** The Kyuubi drawled, yawning. **“If I knew you were that powerful, I’d have asked you to immediately destroy the village. Wait… you wouldn’t listen, would you?”**

Naruto didn’t answer, just kept punching.

 **“I understand the idea that you want Konohagakure to be at its peak when you squash it, but you should probably quit while you’re ahead.”** The Kyuubi mused. **“While technology from your two worlds were not as troublesome to you, you don’t know where your two playthings went, or how advanced they are. The younger Uchiha was able to vanquish Orochimaru with relative ease once he got serious, and the flower wiped out a team – a pathetic one but a team nonetheless – with barely a sliver of effort.”**

“ _Then I need to get stronger. I need to get faster. I need to get_ better, _Kyuubi-sama._ ”

**“Then, gaki, why don’t we fall back to plan W? We may yet make it in time even before-“**

“ _I would, but I do not think_ he _will give in so easily._ ” Naruto grumbled. “ _He’s feared even in death, not that they know the truth…_ ”

 **“It wasn’t- oh. Gaki, you’re being jostled in the real world.”** The Kyuubi then gave a monstrously wide grin. **“Why don’t you take your frustrations out on your comrades?”**

Naruto jerked back to reality when Sakura jostled him a little too hard. He gazed at her, and shrugged in response to her question, which he didn’t pay attention to. He gazed up above where the Hokage now stood. The old man’s hand was in a gesture towards a screen-like contraption, and saying something about how the exams were a substitute for war. Next to him, the sickly kenjutsu master Gekko Hayate stood quietly, coughing occasionally.

Noticing his expression, Sakura elaborated, “He just asked if anyone wanted to give up, before proceeding. When only Choji did, he proceeded to tell us that there were too many ninja in the run for being chuunin. To lessen the numbers, we will be having a set of matches, of which the board will choose two names at random to fight.”

“Choji gave up?” Naruto whispered back with barely any surprise. Unlike other Akimichi who were known for hard work to accompany their eating habits, the heir had seemed to adopt the Nara lazy streak from Shikamaru.

“He apparently ate something weird in the Forest of Death that messed up his chakra system. He was actually just taken to the med-bay.” She replied, then gazed at the board, the Hokage having stopped just as she did.

The board seemed to flash through names at a rapid pace, before abruptly stopping.

“Will Subaku no Temari and HIgarashi Tenten please remain behind, while the rest of you adjourn to the visitor’s aisles above.” Gekko said amongst much coughing.

Sakura wound a hand each around her teammates shoulders and led them to the stairs that would take them to their destination. Naruto debated slicing her hand off for such a casual touch.

“Naruto, I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but you’ve gotta let it go.” Sasuke whispered, bothered by the silence as they walked. “You’ve been this way since I killed that … monster. Hell, you even ignored the Hokage’s summons the whole day yesterday after we reached the tower!”

Naruto looked at him from the corner of his eye, his high collar barely hiding a grimace of distaste.

“Sasuke’s right, Naruto.” Sakura piped up, disengaging her hands but still walking between them. “Cheer up! We’re gonna get promoted to chuunin and then… um…”

She trailed off into thoughtful silence.

“I’m going to try to find a way back.” Sasuke whispered, halting. Both Naruto and Sakura found this surprising enough to jerk to a halt themselves.

“What?” she hissed, leaning forward. “But… why?!”

Sasuke looked at her, and for the first time, let an expression of guilt take over his face. “I left them, Sakura. I may have killed Ardyn, but everything is still in chaos.” He turned to the railing, watching Gekko commence the fight and ignoring the gaze of Kakashi’s that he felt from a few paces away. “My last day in that realm was chaos. I awoke from a long slumber only to find that everything I loved, my _kingdom_ , had been turned into a nightmarish hell suited for only the worst of sinners. While I may have cut the root, I’m not entirely sure that the problem has been solved. I just… _left behind so much_ …”

Sakura patted his shoulder and left her hand there as a comforting gesture. “I know what you mean.” She whispered softly. “While my dimension is now completely wiped out, I could easily turn it back. I… I would give anything to go back, but…”

“They forbade you two as well, didn’t they?” Naruto asked, anger ebbing away against curiosity. “I was forbidden from entering by both the new rulers of the dimensions I travelled to, citing me being… unrequired.” He spat the word out. “Even though I rule them from afar, I am never to return.”

The trio watched Tenten get soundly beaten by the Suna kunoichi before any of them broke the silence. “Well, until we’re here, no matter how long that may be, I’ll continue fighting. It’s the only thing I know, now. Anything else is a… painful reminder.” Sakura said, stepping back. “I’ll do my best to bring magic to these lands… yes. That will be my new goal.”

“Magic to the Elemental Nations?” Sasuke asked, voice hoarse, yet he quirked an eyebrow. “That’s a recipe for chaos.”

“It’d be just too boring otherwise.” Sakura grinned, and if her eyes were wet no-one commented on it.

The midnight-haired teen ignored the call for Shino and Neji to descend to the arena as he spoke, “My goal will be to bring my subjects into this realm. I can see exactly how Lucis, Tenebrae, and Accordo would fit in here. Niflheim will have to be kept in check.” He chuckled weakly, watching Shino get pummeled by Neji’s Jyuuken strikes. “Doesn’t that Hyuuga know that the Aburame’s kikaichu don’t need to rely on open tenketsu to feed on their hosts chakra?”

Sakura and Naruto both turned to observe that yes, indeed, the pompous Hyuuga was resolutely attacking the Aburame’s tenketsu. Naruto felt something off, however, and discretely activated his Brakugan. Mutated with Kyuubi chakra, Naruto easily saw through what no other Byakugan possibly could. “The Aburame has already replaced himself with a bug clone.”

Sakura arched an eyebrow. “That was fast…. For a genin.”

“The Aburame do not rely on a multitude of jutsu, but on clever tactics that could nearly rival a low-tier Nara.” Naruto smiled. “On that note, it would be interesting to face Shikamaru…”

“He’d probably give up if he was paired with you.” Sakura noted, watching the Hyuuga child’s pure bafflement at seeing Shino’s bug clone disperse. She could sympathize being fooled with – with an Aburame’s bug clone, you could never tell the difference with the Byakugan simply because the bugs normally obscure the hosts chakra pathways as well, and even mostly borrow into their flesh to create new emerging holes. Towards the very end of their life, most Aburame were essentially walking insect hives who were so used to their host’s chakra that they imitated normal body functions under the thinnest layer of flesh. It was why the village were weary of the bug-using clan, because the civilians believed them to be insects in human skin.

“True enough.” Naruto allowed, watching as insects began to crawl over the Hyuuga inspite of him striking with great speed at each of them. The Jyuuken was a targeted internal fighting style, and not made for wide sweeping attacks. “But what if-“ Naruto suddenly cut off when Neji spun, releasing a dome of chakra in a Hakkesho Kaiten. “Wait… he’s a branch member, but that’s a main line jutsu…. This brat can certainly put his money where his mouth is.”

All three team members rolled their eyes eerily at the same time when Shino forfeited.

“Well, at least he’s smart.” Sasuke noted, standing straight from his leaning position while he watched the two combatants make the seal of reconciliation as they parted ways. “He didn’t know how many times the Hyuuga could use that jutsu, and he probably found it hard to combat someone who could see through objects… I’m willing to bet he’s an Earth element.”

“I’ll pass. Most Aburame’s are.” Sakura waved him off, the looked somewhere to her left. “Kakashi-sensei looks impatient.”

Sasuke smirked when Naruto turned to look and almost immediately make way towards his ‘koinu’. Personally, he found it rather cute.

“Maa maa, was the discussion on Konoha’s budget successful?” the arguably oldest asked, single eye pinned to his book.

Naruto elbowed him. “Wasn’t it you who said we needed to bond as a team?”

Kakashi looked like he was pouting behind his mask. “But I am part of the team….”

“Gomen-nasai, Kakashi-sensei.” Sakura almost giggled. “Next time, we’ll be sure to include you in our discussions.”

“You’ll have to wait for that, Sakura.” Sasuke said, jerking his head towards the selection screen. Sakura turned and sighed, spotting her own name there along with who else but her childhood rival, Yamanaka Ino.

“I’ll be back shortly.” She sighed, and hopped over the railing, landing with a thud on the ground below.

“1000 gil… I mean, 100000 ryo on this fight ending in less than half a minute.” Sasuke grinned as he saw Ino get outraged over Sakura being there before her, although his expression did slip over his lapse.

“At this point I’m honestly getting bored, so I’ll join in.” Naruto said, and although his expression had fallen back to stoic when he noted the attention of the entire Suna team on his person, yet he still was in a relaxed stance.

 **“Gaki, that redhead over there is housing the Ichibi, Shukaku.”** The Kyuubi pushed the thought to his mind. **“I wouldn’t recommend assimilating him in here, which would provoke the ire of your village before they are ready for your plans, but don’t let this chance go.”**

‘That should prove interesting… Suna will retaliate in exchange for losing their Jinchuuriki. That’d weaken the village, unless my team steps in.’ Naruto mused, now matching the Suna Jinchuuriki’s manic grin with a stoic gaze of his own. ‘Kami knows what Sasuke and Sakura are capable of… this should give us ample time to analyze them in order to take them down later.’ Naruto let his eyes drift downwards to see that rather than waste her time, Sakura had simply used Teleportation magic to appear behind Ino and encase her in a prison of animated ice using Ice make. ‘Because every time I see them fighting, they use a new trick.’

 **“I thought you were warming up to them?”** the Kyuubi asked, amused.

‘I will let no one near me, Kyuubi-sama.’ Naruto’s gaze settled on Kakashi, who arched his visible eyebrow, eye on the supposed ‘battle’. ‘Only two people bear that luxury.’

 **“I didn’t know you thought of me as a person.”** Kyuubi stated, voice curiously blank.

‘Although you are the reason I am here, again, _you are also the reason that I am here_. I can no more hate a part of myself than the sun could hate heat.’ The Uzumaki stated, sneering down at the Yamanaka who gave in to Sakura’s demands to forfeit simply in far of a rapidly dwindling cage. Perhaps her clan jutsu did not work because Haruno was already proficient in the mind arts?

 **“You are a… curious one.”** Kyuubi concluded, then drifted back to his subconscious when Sakura teleported to them after making the seal of reconciliation with a very put out Ino.

“Pay up, sensei.” Sasuke grinned, much to Kakashi’s chagrin. Perhaps Koinu had bet against him when Naruto was having a conversation with his tenant?

The appearance of his other student saved him. “Pay what? Sensei, you didn’t actually think I’d lose?!” Sakura demanded, incredulous.

“Of course not.” The man waved her off. “But I didn’t think you’d want to finish it that fast… Oh, my cute little genin are growing up too fast.” He sniffed, wiping an absent tear from his eye.

“’If you are assured of your victory, even then play not with your prey, for the future is ever changing.’” She recited, then smiled. “Words of a friend of mine.”

“Wise words.” Naruto hummed, then sighed when the board next proudly displayed the names of Inazuka Kiba and Rock Lee. “Oh kami, this is going to be loud.”

Kakashi withdrew a small wrap from his pocket and helpfully handed his genin three sets of earplugs.

It was still ridiculously difficult to hold in his laughter at the antics of the two that they could _see_. Regardless, however, of his near religious drive to act foolish, Lee was clearly so beyond Kiba that there was no comparison. The three genin swiftly removed their earplugs since none of them liked having one of their senses muddled. This was just in time to hear a parting exclamation of “Yosh!” from the exuberant boy while he forcefully clasped an unconscious and thoroughly bruised Kiba’s fingers in a seal of Reconciliation.

“That was…” Sasuke trailed.

“Entertaining.” Sakura finished, smiling. Lee reminded her a lot of another loudmouth that she was friends with…

‘Was’ being the key word.

“Regardless, let this serve as a lesson for you three… if it hasn’t already.” Kakashi tacked on the last bit after remembering the recent missions of his charges. “Don’t anger the weird ones. Lee was going _easy_ on Kiba, if I know his sensei even a little bit.” He then spotted Gai and Lee having a congratulatory moment and shuddered.

Sasuke cracked his knuckles. “I’ll make this one even shorter than yours, Sakura.” He grinned and leapt over the railing. And indeed, when his team looked in askance towards the board, they noted his name alongside Hyuuga Hinata’s.

“She’s gotten slightly more confident.” Sakura offered, when Hinata fell into a combat stance immediately after bowing.

“But she’s still startled just as easy.” Kakashi pointed out when Hinata jerked as Sasuke materialized the same silver shuriken from six days ago.

Naruto watched silently as Sasuke whirled the shuriken at her, which Hinata gracefully vaulted and twirled over, But Sasuke suddenly warped to it and delivered a strong kick to her neck, knocking her unconscious.

“This… Sensei, should we even be here?” he questioned, as Sasuke made the seal of reconciliation with an unconscious Hinata’s fingers and then threw his shuriken towards them. “I mean, at our levels now, should we not be at _least_ Tokubetsu Jounin already?”

“Perhaps.” Kakashi allowed, then with nary an effort reached out and caught Sasuke’s shuriken, then whirled it so it hit the wall behind him. “But something needs to be done about your overconfidence… granted that facing genin way below your rank isn’t helpful but… hmmmm…”

He casually dodged Naruto’s half-hearted punch.

“Maa maa, Naruto-kun, I’ll have to ask you to repeat that after you’re done.” Kakashi smirked, jerking his chin towards the game screen almost as soon as Sasuke appeared before them in place of his shuriken.

Naruto almost sighed. It figured that he’d be paired with the one person he was set on not killing.

“He looks eager.” Sakura mumbled, arching a delicate eyebrow when Gaara appeared in a sand shushin in the middle of the arena.

Naruto smirked as he created a Makyo Hyosho. “I know not if I can end this promptly, but I can say it will definitely be entertaining.” He then proceeded to step inside.

“I don’t know if that is something good or bad.” Sasuke admitted, watching his teammate emerge from the jutsu creation in the middle of the arena. “He seems a bit off kilter.”

“I think he wanted to assimilate Orochimaru.” Sakura noted, watching Gekko Hayate perform the introductory rites. “Kakashi told us about his Uzumaki Fuuinkuasri, so I’m sure that-“

“This is going to be interesting.” Kakashi interrupted when Naruto fell into a stance.

 

*****

 

 _‘He’s just…. Standing.’_ Naruto noted, almost sweatdropping when the other jinchuuriki just stood there staring at him with n expression that seemed a complete contrast from before.

 **‘Um… gaki, there is something that yu should know about Shukaku…’** Kyuubi hesitatingly muttred.

“Mother calls for your blood.” A throaty voice that spoke a lot of disuse emanated from the jinchuuriki… Gaara, was it?

 **‘He has gender identity issues.’** The Kyuubi elaborated.

Naruto definitely sweatdropped now.

 

*****

 

“Gaara will likely drag this out.” Temari noted, watching with a strange sense of anticipation.

“It will do you well not to underestimate the Uzumaki.” Their sensei, Baki, noted,eyes trained on the two genin too. “While he is technically barred from using his Fuuinkusari because of the treaties the villages signed, notably, the cause about appropriating another village’s Jinchuuriki, he still was able to hold against the Yondaime Mizukage, as is now a widespread fact. Even disregarding that… can’t you sense it? He’s hiding it well but…”

“His chakra.” Kankuro noted in a strangled voice. “Even repressed, it’s just… _so much_ …”

Temari’s confident façade crumbled slightly. “Here they go.” She needlessly said, when both inchuuriki tensed as if on an invisble signal.

 

*****

 

 _‘Are you telling me that he’s the way he is because he technically has a catalyst for psychological trauma sealed within him?’_ Naruto asked, even his mental voice deathly silent.

 **‘The fault lies with neither.’** Kyuubi mused. **‘It is well known that Sunagakure no Sato has always treated their jinchuuriki the worst in all the elemental nations – a fact simply propogated by the well known knowledge that they purposely tweak the seal the Shodaime Hokage gave them for the purpose in order to attempt to strengthen their Jinchuuriki and make the bijuu within more … cooperative. In actuality, the seal ends up both weakening immesnsely, allowing Shukaku more influence over his hosts, while at the same time releasing a constant mental buzz that pushes both minds in question closer to the edge.’** Kyuubi ended with a disgusted tone.

While still waiting for Gaara to attack, Naruto frowned. _‘That… Kyuubi-sama, while I certainly won’t advocate for being the most caring or kind…’_

 **‘The boy will be able to heal once Shukaku has been extracted by you, since the seal will collapse as well.’** The Kyuubi assured. He knew the effect that tortured souls had on his host several times before now. Be it that Vasto-Lorde Ulquiorra, that depowered Arrancar Neriel, or that Fire Nation princess Azula, his heart always seemed to melt when cases were brought to his attention that let out cries for help that went unheard.

 _‘Very well.’_ Naruto acquiesced, but mentally made a note to ask Hiruzen to commence an after-war council session tomorrow. He felt the Kyuubi’s acceptance mixed in with amusement over his idea, and he smirked.

“Come, Uzumaki.” The redhead commanded, and sand began leaking out of the gourd on his back. “Prove my existence.”

“You have… issues.” Naruto noted, falling into an airbending stance like it was second nature. And honestly, at this point it was.

While he could normally sandbend as well, wrestling control of the sand away from a bijuu like Shukaku would needlessly complicate things. Thus, he opted for simple airbending, with a caveat of being able to use sonido and bala if things got out of hand.

On seeing that Naruto did not move, Gaara barely hesitated before sand shot at the former.

Th Uzumaki whipped around and propelled himself upward and onto the the fingers of the Ram-seal statue that dominated the ‘head’ of the square arena. He frowned when he noted the sand had followed his movements and had spread out to form a fist in air. He sighed, before whipping out his entire body in three complete circles. Waves of wind rushed out from the ends of his limbs, and the sand was pushed back. He did not stop, however, continuing his motions that changed into a simple spin that allowed a mini-tornado to form in the arena that ripped the sand from the air and into its center. Coincidentally, it also began pulling in everything that wasn’t nailed to the ground.

 

*****

 

“Show off.” Sakura grumbled, easily forming a barrier in front of her and her team made of air that negated the movement of the air already happening and thus allowed them to be free of the tornado’s pull.

“Well, it’s something at least.” Sasuke noted, eyeing the surprised others in the arena with amusement. “He’s making a statement.”

“That we aren’t to be thought less of?” Sakura pouted. “I should have done that too!”

“Sakura-chan…” Kakashi trailed, causing the girl in question to turn her pout on him. “you put Ino-chan in what can be easily described as an ice chokehold and admonished her till she gave in.” This caused the girl to get a thoughtful look n her face. “And the fact that Sasuke successfully killed Orochimaru in less than twenty minutes is now well known amongst all the jounin in this room. I think the two of you have made a statement enough.”

“I wonder how we can combine our powers.” Sasuke mused, watching the Suna boy grin with his fully mature Sharingan like a maniac and lightly shudder in response. “I mean, from what I can see, Naruto commands the elements, I can warp and am proficient in weapons and battlemagic, while Sakura covers… almost all the other bases.”

Kakashi sweatdropped. _‘What have these three become? They are far beyond what the Sannin could ever be. I… I need a drink.’_

 

*****

 

Meanwhile, Naruto could be found crouched down on the finger of the statue and considering. He could sense a lot of movement below the floor of the arena due to his connection with the Earth element, courtesy of Toph, of course. But what was the boy doing? In the end, his curiosity won – something Kyuubi always admonished him for later – and he spun once in the opposite end of the tornado to end it. While normally it required a group of airbenders to properly control bending at this scale, the Kyuubi, considering that he constantly flooded Naruto’s system with his chakra, also pushed in a portion of what used to be Raava’s energies. Thus, he found that his bending prowess was only climbing by the week. It was something Ozai had commented on in passing, when he razed the city of Ba Sing Se to ashes within the hour the day before the arrival of Sozin’s Comet, and he had discussed at length with the Kyuubi. Both were less than pleased that eventually Naruto would have to practice extreme control over his emotions, lest he have some… unwanted reactions. In spite of their best efforts to curtail the influx of these energies, without having the other half of Kyuubi’s chakra, it was declared impossible by the bijuu to alter the seal.

It was something Naruto looked forward to correcting.

Meanwhile, Gaara had schooled his expression before anyone else noticed it, and actually looked up at the figure of Naruto.

“You… are an excellent challenge.” He muttered, then unfolded his hands and raised them up.

The arena floor began to shake.

 

*****

 

“What is he doing?!” Kankuro growled. “He could at least have warned us-“

“You know he truly cares nothing for us.” Temari muttered, sounding bitter over the fact. While she wasn’t close to Kankuro either, and was forced by her father to put forth an outwardly uncaring attitude towards her other sibling, Gaara always seemed to have a soft spot in her heart. When she heard his screams some nights…

Her thought process promptly stopped when sand burst forth from the arena floors.

“Why is he making more sand?!” Baki inwardly cursed. The boy wasn’t going to transform in the middle of the exams, was he? The preparations weren’t in place yet!

His worries seemed unfounded, however. The moment the Uzumaki brat spotted the sand, his expression closed off. If he knew the truth behind Gaara’s condition, would he have thought along the same lines, for different reasons?

The boy simply seemed to disappear from his perch and appear in front of Gaara in a burst of speed that would have put even the most experienced Jounin to shame, and slammed his open palm into Gaara’s stomach. Baki recognized the maneuver immediately – it was one the Yondaime kazekage himself taught him when he was chosen as the redhead’s jounin sensei.

‘ _The Gogyo Fuuin? That… wait… even if he knew Gaara was a jinchuuriki, how in the world did he guess that he had an even number tethered seal?’_ the man thought, surprised, as sand began to fall from the air. It was then that he caught a glance of something before sand obscured his vision, however. _‘Wait… a dojutsu?!’_

 

*****

 

Naruto sighed as he knocked Gaara out with a seal to his stomach. That would grant the poor boy temporary reprieve, at the very least. The seal as the Kyuubii described to him would fluctuate enough to override the odd numbered seal – the fastest one he could pull from Shiro’s memories – and go back to ruining the boy by the time an hour was up, till which point in time Gaara would continue to sleep. He wondered if the boy was beyond hope if he had wished to transform in the middle of a populated village. Kabuto’s memories hinted at the invasion being set for the final phase of the chuunin exams. However, now that Orochimaru was temporarily vanquished and his plans with Gaara were solidified, h didn’t give a thought to how it would pan out.

On hearing the soft sigh the boy gave off, Naruto’s resolve strengthened on what he had decided to do. He quickly deactivated his Byakugan with which he had used to analyze the seal from afar, and leapt through the sand, encased in an air bubble to protect both him and Gaar, and crouched onto the ceiling till the sand was relatively calm. Then he laid the boy at his teammate’s feet before appearing back in the arena and fell into an earthbending stance.

He breathed in deeply, and slammed a foot on the sand, then backflipped and repeated the action.

The sand soon receded and he swiftly closed the holes left from the emergence.

 

*****

 

Hiruzen wasn’t much too surprised when Naruto appeared next to him next.

“Hokage-sama.” The boy greeted. Thankfully, he had chosen to appear n the shadows behind, so most people in the arena thought he simply disappeared. “You have one day to extract all your undercover agents from Sunagakure.”

It said a lot about how much Hiruzen knew of the boy (or at least thought he did) that he only sighed. “Naruto…”

“No, Hokage-sama.” The boy interrupted. “My decision is final.”

“Very well.” The man said after a few seconds, during which Nara Shikamaru and Subaku no Kankuro had already taken their places in the arena. “However, I will be unable to justify this in front of other nations.”

“They will know better then to attack us after I’m through with Suna.” Naruto muttered, then the Hokage felt his chakra signature vanish.


	13. Obituary: Roots

**“Gaki, you do realize that decimating Suna would be counterproductive to your plans?”** the Kyuubi nagged, nudging Naruto’s chakra with his own. Naruto sighed as he halted where he was, high above the village of Sunagakure itself, and closed his eyes, meditating his way into his mindscape.

“Kyuubi-sama?” Naruto prodded.

 **“I realize you… feel protective of those the world had wronged.”** Kyuubi scoffed. **“But do you know what consequences the destruction of one of the five great hidden villages would do?”**

“I… I just…”

**“The other four would fall into turmoil. All minor villages will begin to encroach upon Suna’s old territory which would mean a violation of the Treaty of the Settled Lands. The other great villages, and _Konoha_ , would have to divert resources to ensure this doesn’t happen, which will _weaken them_. That’s not what you want, is it? And to destroy Suna in the first place would require you to reveal more of that of which you are capable – normally, this would be a plus point since Konoha would prepare and give you a better challenge but…”**

“With Jiraiya on the loose, and kami knows how many seal masters and so-called ‘tailed beast experts’ out there, you’re worried that even a single moment of a glancing error would see me separated from you.” Naruto mused, but he didn’t smile.

Did he ever truly smile, anyway?

 **“Don’t lie to yourself, gaki. Your two… teammates bring out some emotion in you.”** The Kyuubi pointed out. **“As does your koinu. Aang’s influence, I see. Regardless, my point is, even with that blasted Raava’s essence, there are still tailed beasts out there that, if put together, can fight against my chakra vehemently. Given that we don’t know if the great summoning clans will fall in line or not…”**

“You’re suggesting we annihilate Suna a few measures of time before Konoha itself?”  Naruto interpreted, crossing his arms. He gave a frustrated look at his current vestments when they got in the way of his arm settling properly.

The Kyuubii grinned, and despite Naruto knowing it was that of amusement, any other onlooker would have probably passed out from fear. **“Yes. Aside from the fact that you may have a valid reason to annihilate Suna soon anyway,”** Kyuubi referenced the oncoming ‘invasion’ with amusement **“the bijuu also take priority, and… so does this.”**

Kyuubi pulled up a set of memories from Kabuto’s mind.

Naruto’s eyes widened once they were finished playing. “This… this changes everything! I need to get to him before he does something reckless! Granted, the odds of him doing so are normally nonexistent, but with Team 7 the way it is now…”

 **“The old warhawk, from what  I gather, is a misguided fool.”** The Kyuubii grunted. **“But even misguided fools can be meddlesome with the proper tools.”**

“Even Kabuto, however, was unable to find out exactly where Root is.” Naruto pointed out. “I suggest we follow up on what he discovered going through Orochimaru’s records. Under the Hokage monument would make for an excellent place for a hideout…”

 **“Gaki, use your head.”** The Kyuubi admonished. **“The man you took the Byakugan from, he was a sensor. Kabuto was a sensor too, although a much less talented one. Still, he remembers the imprint of Danzo’s chakra. Just use it as a beacon…”**

Naruto grinned when he realized where this was going. “Perfect, indeed. Hmmm, it seems that power really does make people foolish. This also gives me access to five of the other bijuu, since Kabuto ‘scouted’ them as well.” He noted with distaste.

 **“Power may not always be earned in the heat of battle.”** The Kyuubi grinned lazily from where he lay, head resting on his right hand-like paw. His ice blue eyes seemed full of amusement. **“Just because you may assimilate them when they’re sleeping, does not mean it is any less deserved.”**

“True enough.” Naruto conceded. “I was raised for eleven years as a shinobi, after all. I guess the five hundred and fourteen years as an Arrancar and the bedlam that was Earth simply took precedence.”

With a wave over his shoulder as he turned, which the Kyuubi lazily returned, Naruto melted back into consciousness. He did not see the Kyuubii’s easygoing attitude fade, as the tailed beast thought **‘I believe the time is close… Otou-san, what would you have done in my place?’**.

Naruto looked ruefully at the village beneath him, active Byakugan picking up everything, from the bundle of nerves that was the Yondaime Kazekage, to the civilians simply going about their way.

 _‘Soon… soon.’_ He thought, and he stepped into the Makyo Hyosho that spawned in front of him directly onto the Hokage monument in Konoha.

_‘Now… to see if Kyuubi-sama was right about this…’_

 

***

 

Shimura Danzo was not an idiot.

If one were to describe him, the first word to come to mind would be ‘shrewd’. Even for a shinobi, the man utilized his brains above anything else. After all, how else would on explain how he had a shadow organization within a supposed shadow organization fully operational and running?

To say nothing of the blame he inflicted on others in his stead. It was he who had commissioned Orochimaru to begin testing using the Shodaime’s cells, believing that with the legendary man’s power, he would be unstoppable, and his dream view of Konoha would bear fruit at last.

Hadn’t that backfired spectacularly?

Not only did using Mokuton require chakra levels he definitely did not possess, but manipulating the kekkei-genkai itself was beyond astronomically difficult. And if Shimura Danzo admitted something was difficult, one had better be rest assured that it was well beyond that.

However, the implantation had served another purpose.

In the wake of the Uchiha Massacre, he utilized the chaos that was the night in order to send in his own Ne agents in order to… appropriate a few Sharingan. Having already implanted Shisui’s eye, he wondered at whether or not implanting more on another surface… say… the arm made from SHodaime’s cells, was possible.

What his agents found was invaluable.

Before commencing the massacre proper, Itachi visitied some sort of hidden vault beneath the Uchiha Naraka shrine. Due to the requirement of having a sharingan, his agent was forced to shuushin in when Itachi still pondered his inner turmoil. Danzo remembered smirking at the proof that the Uchiha ws not as emotionless as he believed after all – the death of his best friend and the order to murder his entre clan had, of course, weighed on his conscious quite a bit.

Regardless, what he found within was… a treasure trove.

His agent had returned with a gigantic scroll that was Sharingan-sealed. Using one of the eyes stolen as a sacrifice, he opened the scroll to read of the techniques within – the twins Izanagi and Izanami.

Danzo grew ecstatic at the prospect, and immediately commissioned his best medic nin to implant the few eyes he managed to procure into the arm. He considered grave-robbing for more, but in the end believed it to be past a line even he wouldn’t cross.

Imagine his surprise when he noticed that the eyes seemed much easier to control than he would have thought possible! He attributed this to the implantation of mokuton cells into himself.

This was only further proven a few months later when a visage of the first Hokage begin to form on his shoulder. This, he kept secret from everyone including his medic nin, since the Shodaime was an inspiration after all, and he did not want to incite strong emotions even in his thoroughly conditioned Ne operatives. The bottom line of Ne was ‘the darkest acts for the village to bathe in light’, a village Hashirama-sama created. He did not want to risk their conditioning breaking if hey saw he desecrated the remains of their beloved First.

Nowadays, however, he noted random chakra spikes, especially when a certain genin was within the village. Genin? It was laughable, that this village still held back an individual who could take down a Kage, justu-stealing Fuuinkusari or not. He had tried to convince Hiruzen so many times to hand over the boy for true training, but the old fool remained adamant on his successor’s legacy not becoming an emotionless tool.

Could he not see that that is what ninja were supposed to be?

Namikaze Naruto… a mystery.

Not to mention how the boy clearly despises his own father, if he outright burned the ‘Namikaze Legacy’ scroll that Hiruzen tried to hand over without even reading the contents. Danzo personally could grudgingly admit to being able to relate, but the boy had thrown away what could have possibly been the formula for another amazing creation like the Rasengan or the HIraishin!

Oh, and those scrolls had been burnt too! What he could have done with those blueprints…

“Shimura-sama.” An operative appeared in front of his chair, kneeling, head bowed, the perfect picture of subservience. “We have detected a Doton scrying jutsu. Someone had located our headquarters.”

Danzo was astonished, although he did not outwardly show it. While no one was supposed to know of the existence of this place, Doton scrying jutsus did not exist, so perhaps it was simply a jutsu gone wrong. However, he wasn’t called paranoid for nothing. “Send the entire complex into lockdown. I will examine the report of this… scrying jutsu… after this incident has passed. Place Squadrons 4, 7, and 9 on external guard duty.”

“Hai.” The operative said, and the white lighting switched out for red. Danzo was thankful that he didn’t allow for blaring alarms, after all, it was barely the definition of quiet – they would have only further aggravated the slight headache he felt.

Eventually, the entire complex drifted into silence. Now, while Ne Headquarters was mostly silent, one could never not hear the clang of weapons connecting from the training hall, the slight murmur from the decryption division, or the sounds of the security gates opening and closing as personnel walked through the base. And until five minutes ago, those sounds did exist. Unless…

Danzo’s one visible eye narrowed when mist began to drift in from all the entry points to his office.

 

***

 

 _‘I guess you got lucky, Ino… you get to live.’_ Naruto mused, standing from where he had just assimilated a Yamanaka, finally getting that grounding in the mind arts that he wanted.   _‘This is way too easy. How was Zabuza ever defeated… ever?’_

**‘You mean ignoring the fact that you’re faster by at least six times his speed? Gee, let me think…’**

_‘I never took you for a spoilsport, Kyuubi-sama.’_ Naruto sighed, using shushin to get behind the last operative and beheading her effortlessly, then chucked both bodes onot the pile that was forming in his Makyo Hyosho. _‘You have to admit that this is pitiful, however. This is supposed to be a group greater than the greatest infiltration specialists our village had to offer.’_

 **‘All you humans are pathetic.’** The Kyuubi guffawed. **‘Althoough you have transcended, you still wouldn’t be able to single handedly wage a war against the entire population of the elemental nations, without the caveat of being sealed, would you? Unless you get to my level, don’t even bother not calling yourself pathetic.’**

Naruto, however, froze mid-stride. _‘Waging a war… against the entirety of the elemental nations… singlehandedly…’_

**‘Gaki, I hope you aren’t really considering-‘**

_‘All of these nations are guilty of crimes against humanity.’_ Naruto mused, dispersing into mist and sluggishly making his way towards Danzo’s chamber. _‘The original idea for a hidden village was to be away from war, where the different clans of these pathetic imbeciles could simply laze away without nary a thought to violence. However, those in power have simply stepped up the scale from inter-clan wars to inter-group-of-clan wars, i.e. villages. They fight amongst themselves, they persecute each other at the barest possibility… this isn’t true peace.’_

 **‘… If no one is alive, how do I amuse myself?’** The Kyuubi played along.

 _‘You and I both know that you already have a solution to that.’_ Naruto mentally scoffed, finally drifting into telepathic silence as he entered the large circular chamber. He nearly reformed when he finally saw what was under the sling that usually covered Danzo’s right arm.

 _“Do you see, Kyuubi-sama?”_ Naruto growled, uncaring for the fact that his voice resounded in the chamber. _“This is what you are reluctant to wipe off… monsters under the guise of butterflies.”_

Danzo looked up, but couldn’t spot anyone, even with all his stolen Sharingan barred to the world. Unfortunately, he had only just planted two suggestions at once into his teammates Mitokado and Koharu’s minds, the twin strain of which had definitely taken stronger than usual toll on him. “I will do whatever I must to raise Konoha to the ranks of greatness, you have no right to judge me… Namikaze Naruto.”

 _“Do not call me that!”_ Naruto growled, his already righteous anger now mingling with pure fury. _“That bastard made me what I am today! I do not know what exactly happened that night, but I am certain that there were other solutions than damning a barely born baby to a world of hate, a world that he nurtured!”_ The mist in the area began to uncharacteristically rise in temperature, and a single water dragon sped at Danzo from the opposite direction in which Naruto’s mist form hid within the Kirigakure no Jutsu using the Kirinaru no jutsu.

Danzo wasn’t prepared for the silent jutsu and thanked the gods he activated Izanagi when he did.

 **‘Naruto!’** Kyuubi growled. **‘Do not forget why we are here! We have no way to ensure a hundred percent victory against Itachi, so you need to assimilate this man, not kill him!’**

Both stopped short when he simply materialized next to where his corpse was, the lifeless body vanishing.

 _‘This… can’t be genjutsu, you would have already dispelled it otherwise.’_ Naruto noted. _‘A… secret immortality jutsu? I noticed a Sharingan closing… What is with power-hungry maniacs and immortality anyway?’_

**‘Just assimilate him, Gaki. We have a lot more work to do.’**

***

 

Danzo did not react beyond a pained gurgle when orange chains burst through each of the sharingan eyes he possessed on his arm and right eye socket, confident that Izanagi would hold. The boy was a fool to attack with different strikes all at once-

Wait.

Why was Izanagi not working?

The… the eyes!

The Fuuinkusari stole the base chakra impression of the target, assimilating it into the user to the point that the user developed unique traits while destroying the original in the process. If each of his sharingan were pierced….

No!

 

***

 

Naruto fell to his knees almost as soon as Danzo’s lifeless body hit the floor. In the background, he noted the sound of a seal malfunctioning.

He was in too much pain to note much else.

Both his eyes felt like they were on fire. The seal on his stomach felt like it was on fire.

He felt like he was on fire. Yet he did not scream.

Deep within his mind, even the Kyuubi grit his teeth against the pain. **‘Gaki… destroy this place. No one… can know.’**

Naruto shakily tried to stand to his feet, to breathe through the pain… but he stumbled and fell. Dimly, both tailed beast and jinchuuriki tried to not focus on the pain. They both did not know whether it was the Mokuton aspect, or the sharingan that was causing such agony but-

 **‘Wait… wait….’** Kyuubi mumbled, and then fell silent.

The pain began to dim until Naruto could not feel it anymore, and he sighed in relief as he stood.

_‘Kyuubi-sama?’_

**‘Gaki… you’d best destroy the place and head home. Meditate there so I can allow the changes to take place while we talk. You won’t believe what I got from an untampered sample of the Mokuton brat’s DNA.’**

Naruto arched an eyebrow but otherwise kept silent. He threw Danzo’s body into his Makyo Hyosho before stepping through and out behind the Hokage Monument. Bracing into an earthbending posture, he slammed his fists forwards.

 

***

 

Hiruzen was worried. He was in a frantic frenzy, sending messenger hawks lefts and right. He knew that he’d have to deal with a lot if Naruto was actually serious about defeating the Kazekage… no… the entirety of Sunagakure… but honestly, no one really cared for the village anyway. Maybe another country could pick up the Wind mantle.

He suddenly felt a tremor come in from the direction of the Hokage monument.

An ANBU suddenly flashed in front of him. “Hokage-sama -!”

“I know, Batta.” Hiruzen murmured, then gazed outside and sighed in little respite. If Naruto was doing some stress-relief, maybe he eventually wouldn’t go after Raza? But still… “Keep an ANBU watch over the Suna Jinchuuriki. I don’t know what the Kazekage was thinking, but hopefully nothing too bad will come out of it.”

“Hai, Hokage-sama.” Batta bowed, and vanished in a leaf shunshin.

‘Naruto… what is happening? I wish I knew what you’ve been through so I could help you… but something tells me you’d never listen to me truly anymore, not like how you did when you were younger. I morn for that Naruto… where has that ray of sunshine gone?’

 

***

 

Naruto appeared in his apartment, over his bed. He had ‘dropped by’ the shinobi attire store… and then a civilian fashion shop. Honestly, shinobi gear was so utilitarian… for someone like him who didn’t need to store any items, it was just plain boring. He tossed off the cumbersome slayer robes Phoenix King Ozai had gifted him for wiping out the Water Tribe, and cursorily lit it on fire. He then proceeded to sit in a lotus position and meditate, swiftly descending into his mindscape.

His eyes opened… to the gates of Konohagakure. His eyebrow mentally twitched when he realized exactly what allowed the Kyuubi to do this… a major part of the village was wood, after all. This was clear proof that the Mokuton had integrated itself into him seamlessly.

He simply kicked them open and analyzed the area. It all looked cell for cell exactly like how the village did, except the sky was a foreboding reddish-orange, and further covered in black clouds. Oh, and the Hokage tower was about fifteen times its normal size. Naruto assumed that’s where the Kyuubi was, and made his way towards it.

When he pulled the main door open, he … sweatdropped.

The inside of the tower was completely hollow – no floors and no wall partitions. The walls were lined with the bars of the seal. Essentially, he and the Kyuubi could ‘physically’ touch now.

Additionally, the Kyuubi had evolved even further, however this was something rather… delayed.

When he had assimilated Aizen and Kurosaki Ichigo, he didn’t really spot any change in the Kyuubi. This was explained away by the tailed beast by stating that, since Zangetsu and Kyouka Suigetsu were kind of ‘demons’ in their own right, he would have to fight them in order to gain their prowess. Since he wasn’t a hundred percent assured of his success, he had refrained, but now it was clear that he had part-taken in the battle as the Zangetsu horn and facial markings of the form Ichigo had attained in order to defeat Naruto were now clearly present on the Kyuubi’s… face(?) as well as a crescent moon’s yellow marking within the diamond from Raava’s inclusion on his forehead. The horn was behind Kyuubi’s left gigantic ear, popping out from underneath while the ear itself fell backwards, and the black marking fell from somewhere on the very top of his head straight down his maw, crossing several glowing lines from Raava’s inclusion on its destination on his chest. He seemed to be clear of any Mokuton influences, which led Naruto to believe the intense pain he felt was the Mokuton forcefully integrating itself with his own DNA.

But what really caused Naruto to sweat-drop was the fact that the Kyuubi was currently chasing around wood dummies modeled after the Yondaime Hokage.

“Kyuubi-sama…” Naruto trailed, unsure.

 **“Ah, kit, you’re finally here.”** Kyuubi spoke, amused. **“I can’t say I approve of your choice in clothing choices… but I guess it will match your new visage anyway.”**

“New…?”

**“You just assimilated Senju, Uchiha, Yamanaka, and Shimura DNA. What did you expect?”**

“I… oh. Regardless, you mentioned-“

 **“Ah. Yes.”** The Kyuubi tossed aside the model he was nibbling on. **“As you know, the Mokuton brat was the only one who could use the element. Eventually, it was termed as a particularly rare kekkei genkai. However, we both now know the true nature of the ability.”** And the bijuu then nonchalantly opened the floodgates to all the memories that had been assimilated. As he watched Naruto’s eyes widen, squint, and then contract in winces, he laughed. **“I figured, there’s no point in explaining something we both know when I can just show you.”**

It took a long time for Naruto to sift through the memories of Senju Hashirama, Yamanaka Fuu, Shimura Danzo, Uchiha Shisui, Uchiha Deishiki, Uchiha Yori, Uchiha Mika, Uchiha Hurai, and, surprisingly, Uchiha Mikoto and Uchiha Fugaku. There was too much to go through, however, and it did not helped that some evens were seen repeatedly but just from different angles.

However, when he was finally through with those, another set of imprints were thrust at him. They weren’t as clear, or concise, just blurs, but it was more than enough to make the connection required.

The Kyuubi laughed at his wide-eyed look, something he last saw oh so many months ago. **“Understood?”**

Naruto nodded with only little hesitation, then shook his head and took a deep breath. “So many options, now… Kyuubi-sama, we could be…”

 **“I know, kit.”** Kyuubi grinned. **“But before we proceed with anything else, it’s time to fulfill your promise to me.”**

Naruto stood ramrod straight.

**“Bring me my Yin chakra.”**

 

***

 

When Naruto woke up next morning, it was to a very… clear world. This was in no way a pun, because any even lingering doubts he had about his decisions had vanished with the truths he learned last night. To think that the victors wrote history this way… it only further solidified the lowly image of mankind in his eyes.

Speaking of which…

Channeling chakra into his ocular chakra pathways, a single thought created a miniature Makyo Hyosho in front of him, and he angled it in the rising sun to get a look at his eyes.

While his left eye remained an orange Bykugan iris with black sclera, his right eye was a crimson iris with what looked like a black four-point pinwheel against a white sclera.

 _‘Uchiha Shisui…’_ Naruto trailed, then sighed. Dwelling in the past would get him nothing. However, he did owe Sasuke an explanation, if only because he had to keep up the ruse of camaraderie….

He stopped channeling chakra into his eyes but frowned when they didn’t revert. He tried charging them again and then draining the of chakra, but they still did not become normal. He tried spiking his chakra, but still no change. He analyzed the drain on his reserves, and it was less than 0.01%, but still…

**‘Relax, gaki. This way, you have a credible method of putting your case in front of the Hokage.’**

Naruto sighed.


	14. Obituary: Resolve

While Uzumaki Naruto plowed through Ne and eventually drifted off to sleep, Haruno Sakura stayed listlessly awake.

She and Sasuke had spent the entire evening after the prelims searching for the redhead. She doubted he even left a clone behind to find out who his matchup in the finals were. Shaking her head with a grim smile, she gazed at the stars above imploringly.

Where did things go so horribly off kilter?

Her journey into the realm of magic had left her more than scarred, she knew. It was not like she wanted to paint herself in the light of a victim, but the truth was there, like the lone black dot in a sea of white – it could not be ignored.

Her hands drew her attention next. Was it not with these very hands that she and…

No…

Could she dare? Could she dare say _his_ name?

She…

“ _Zeref._ ”

He tasted the foul word, bracing herself from the influx of emotions it would bring. When she felt none, she startled badly in surprise, where she sat against the wall on the rooftop of her parents’ house.

Her parents.

Sakura had spent so long alive… seen so many things…

Was she ever going to be Haruno Ichigo’s daughter anymore?

She knew the answer was ‘no’.

In spite of the fact that she slumbered for eight hundred years while the battle between her and herinner demon which she had so long ago dubbed Inner Sakura, but was far something else… while that battle raged for the rpize of her mind, she had slumbered.

And he had moved on.

When she first met Zeref it was before any of his creations, his demon books, were born. When he was human, and still not yet afflicted with the curse of immortality.

A time she cherished. When did he draw her in? When did his nondescript eyes come to hold every color in the world for her, and when did his arms come to mean safety?

It did not matter.

Had she not warned him? With the mythos of her home dimension fresh in her mind(s), she warned him what power could do. Nothing in any world was without a price.

But he delved into soul magic anyway.

She remembered holding him as he broke down, kissing his head and murmuring soothing nothings into his ear at night, right after he tossed the food off the dining table in their little abode and _fell apart_.

She was there when he crafted his plan.

She was there when he created his  _children_.

But in the end… in the end, betrayal was her fate.

Until it wasn’t.

Waking up in the darkest recesses of her mind, she was challenged by ‘Inner Sakura’ for a chance for control. How is one supposed to feel anyway, when the voice that always encouraged, always guided, suddenly turned against you?

When your love and your friend both betrayed you.

The battle raged for eight hundred years, and when she awoke, she awoke victorious.

Or so she thought.

Inner Sakura never meant to fight for control. She fought to … distract.

Haruno Saura was always a bright girl. With an eidetic memory, memorization was child’s play, and as she later came to know, simply observing a jutsu was enonough for her to replicate it.

It was, in a sense, her own Kekkei Genkai.

‘Replicate’, Makarov had termed it.

With Inner Sakura gone, having distracted her while the ambient magic in the very air of Fiore replaced her Chakra with magical energies, her own unique magic type awakened, like a magical Fuinkusari.

And she had forged on, using it to first recreate Archive, and then…

Then everything was just so _simple._

Through her journeys, eventually she came across Fairy Tail, and then nothing was ever simple again.

Sakura startled out of her reverie when she felt a drop of wetness fall on her hand, and glanced at the tear like it was an alien concept.

“And what’s gotten you in such a downer?”

Sakura certainly did not yelp. She certainly did not immediately fire off a crash spell.

But she was certainly happy Ino dodged it.

“Dammit, gurl!” the blonde cursed. “Hold ya horses, I  just came over to see why you’re up at this hour!”

Sakura stared at the girl nearly in uter confusion for a whole minute. “Ino?”

Said blonde simply crossed her hands and began tapping her foot. “Who else is it gonna be? Have ya gone forgettin’ ya live right next to ma’ clan compound?”

Sakura stared for a few minutes, before another tear fell.

“Er… Sakura? Ya okay, there ? »

Sakura bowed her head, and trembled a little. NO, she would not break down, absolutely not-

“Sakura-hime?”

Needless to say, a certain female Yamanaka suddenly found herself holding an armful of sobbing pink hair, eventually falling down with said girl.

This time, it wasn’t Sakura who mumbled sweet nothings.

 

***

 

“Chief Bahamut.” Noctis greeted, bowing low.

Here, within the astral plane where all his summons lived, Noctis was free to call himself by his true name. He wasn’t Uchiha Sasuke, held on a pedestal simply for being the sole surviving member of a clan with a tragic past. No.

Here he was Noctis Lucis Caelum, King of Insomnia, Vanquisher of the Starscourge, Victor over Ardyn Lucis Caelum.

Here he was _himself_.

“Yad siht em ot emoc ouy evah tahw rof? Eno denorht, esir.”

Noctis could never get used to the sheer bass Chief Bahamut held in his voice. He nearly trembled before his might. No, he was not king here, not absolutely.

“I have come before you, yet again, to plead you return my link to Eos. No… to beg that you do.” Noctis whispered, unable to trust his voice. He knew his voice would carry over, regardless.

“Nruter ot ouy dewolla I hcihw no snoitidnoc eht fo wonk ouy. Eno denorht, ereh yats tsum gnir eht yhw wonk ouy.” The voice boomed, courteous yet with a warning edge.

“But I can’t-“

“Ti eviecer ton yam ouy. Lanif si siht. On.” Chief emphasized, patience wearing thin.

Noctis knew this would be the result. Why would he even try? This always…

“Please.” He breathed out, voice quivering. He would never admit it aloud, but without something tangible, without the _ring_ , he’d forever feel that Eos was a dream.

He did not want it to be a dream.

Unceremoniously, he was chucked out.

He awoke with a start, on his bed where he had attempted to fall asleep. He wrapped his hands around his knees as he tilted his head, staring out at the moon. He didn’t give any sign of notice when carbuncle materialized next to him, and nudged him as if to ask if he was fine.

Noctis… no… Sasuke let a single tear flow, and Carbuncle whined  mournful sound.

 

***

 

Uzumaki Naruto walked down the road to the Hokage building with not a single graceless step. Aside from his paler skin, his red hair was cut down to short, but one could still spot blonde and black streaks within. His left eye was… strange. On it’s side, towards his hairline, veins seemed to bulge with chakra similar to the Hyuuga Byuakugan… yet, his sclera was black and iris a pale orange. His other eye is what got people really talking, bearing the unchanged mangekyou sharingan of Uchiha Shisui. He was garbed in a simple white kimono, if larger than strictly necessary. Black leggings and boots could be spotted on his person.

And he was definitely annoyed.

_‘Decide to walk my way for once and people can’t top whispering… honestly, after their Hokage’s announcement I thought they’d finally stop that.’_

**‘When will you get I through your skull that you humans are a particular brand of fickle? Wait… you do know it. You’re just being whiny.’**

_‘Kyuubi-sama…’_

**‘You know you love be, gaki.’**

Naruto sighed as he walked through the main gates of the building. Not even giving a glance at anyone, he made his wy to the wall and began walking right up to the Hokage’s office, where he could see a window open, at a leisurely place.

_‘I never thought walking could be so relaxing.’_

**‘Imagine how much better it will be when there is no one around.’**

“Hokage-sama.” Naruto greeted, stepping into the office like it was nothing. He was only mildly surprised when it was empty. _‘Hmm… a meeting, perhaps?’_

***

 

Noct- … Uchiha Sasuke was decidedly unamused.

After staying up all night yesterday, he was only just summoned by an ANBU with a Batta mask to a ‘meeting of grave importance’, without allowance for breakfast, even. He just tossed on the clothes from the exams and was forced here.

Not that he couldn’t escape…

“Well, Uchiha-sama?” a civllian council member brought him from his state of agitation. “Will you approve?

“I will certainly not,” the respondent snapped, “not when I still haven’t met him yet.”

“Itachi is already a nukenin.” Mitokado Homura pointed out. “Certainly, excommunicating him from the clan will not be much of a stretch?”

Sasuke sighed. “I will not remove him from the clan unless we meet, Mr. Mitokado. Certainly not at the prodding of old-“

“Sasuke-kun.” Hiruzen warned, but there was amusement in his eyes.

“May we know the reasons why?” asked Shikaku Nara. “While I may not completely agree with the expulsion-“

“Stating why,” Hiruzen interrupted, “will be personally difficult for Sasuke-kun, as a particular.. key incident falls under doctor-patient confidentiality, and is, as such, considered an A rank secret.”

“Did someone mention an A-rank secret?” came a voice, and Sasuke’s right eyebrow rose elegantly in pleasant surprise.

“Narut- … a sharingan?”

And indeed, from an open window, Naruto twirled into the meeting room with grace.  He then stood up to reveal his eyes.

“Indeed. I won it after a … particularly trying attempt on my life last night.” Naruto said, picture of innocence.

“Uzuma- um… Namikaze-dono, this is a private meeting.” Hiruzen chastised, while internally his heart leapt a mile a minute. He recognized that Mangekyou. Where in the world did Naruto get his hands on Shisui’s eye.

“A meeting which I can surely add my two cents to, _Hokage-sama_.” Naruto said, the title coming off his tongue like dirt. “And, for your health, I prefer ‘Uzumaki’.”

“Is that a threat, boy?” demanded Hyuuga Hiashi.

Naruto gazed at the man, rolled his eyes, and turned away from the Hokage to face the room at large. “Council members of Konohagakure no Sato, today I bring forth information on yet another travesty that our beloved _Hokage-sama_ has allowed to occur during his second reign. If I have permission, I would like to project a set of memories, using the Kioku Toei jutsu from the Yamanaka clan. Since we have a clan member present, he can attest to the authenticity of the jutsu and memories shown therein himself.” Naruto orated, then gazed impassively at the man in question. “Unless he’d rather again block memories from a prepubescent child? I hear the academy has many students this year who have good memory. Perhaps he’d like to give them a handicap as well?”

While Inoichi bristled, the Hokage sighed. Ever since it was revealed the Inoichi had sealed away on one, not two, but four memories from Naruto’s mind before he even joined the academy, his standing had fallen in the council. While all unanimously agreed to not let the facts out, it wasn’t out of respect, but shame. Even his former teammates, Shikaku and CHouza, had been on spikes around him. “Naruto, what is the meaning of this?”

Naruto turned his face to look at the Hokage from the corner of his eye. “When I was younger, you were my whole world. I trusted you implicitly, and in turn I could expect at least friendship, if not familial love. But after … after everything, Sarutobi Hiruzen, you just proved to be a kind man who made too many mistakes that stacked against him.” Without giving anyone a chance to comment, Naruto closed his eyes and signlessly initiated the jutsu.

Approximately a half hour passed, with the entire population of the chambers in silence. Then, like abruptly hitting the play button, everyone gasped when they came back to reality.

“I… Hokage-sama…” Inazuka Tsume gasped.

“An entire clan… just because few posed a threat?” Aburame Shibi gasped.

“You knew what he was capable of. Why let him live?” Nara Shikaku asked.

Meanwhile Sasuke was stunned.

His brother… his brther was innocent.

He spent his entire childhood hating an innocent person who simply sacrificed himself for…

_THE VILLAGE._

“How dare you?” he asked, bringing a halt to all the conversation in the room, especially so because his Sharingan was blazing red. However, it wasn’t his three tomoe matured based Sharingan, it was a red six-petal flower over a black iris in both eyes. “How dare you sign off the death of MY CLAN?!”

Hiruzen simply stared at Naruto as he spoke. “I had it on good authority that more than fifty percent of the clan males were congregating with intentions to instigate a rebellion-“

“WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN?!” Sasuke burst, and aound him blue motes of energy swirled in his anger. “WHAT OF THE ELDERLY? THE WOMEN? THE BABIES? WHAT WAS THEIR FAULT?”

“It seemed to be the best solution at the time, Sasuke-“

“SHUT UP! UCHIHA SASUKE DIED A LONG TIME AGO! MY NAME IS NOCTIS LUCIS CAELUM, KING OF INSOMNIA, LAST TO THE ROYAL LINE OF LUCIS, ALLY TO ALTISSIA AND SECOND RULER UNDER THE ASTRALS! I REFUSE TO BE INCLUDED IN THIS PATHETIC DREDGE OF A VILLAGE AND-“

He stopped abruptly and breathed deep.

“I… this is unbecoming of me. I will return.” If the promise sent shivers down everyone’s spine, no one commented. Sasuke then closed his eyes and concentrated, before vanishing in a swirl of red magic dust motes.

Silence reigned.

“While I understand the cause for an assassination attempt against the Uchiha, given our suspicions, I do not agree with the slaughtering of the _entire clan_! Does this mean that for every criminal in lockup, you’ll murder their entire clan as well?! Or for every mistake, for every misconception _against us_ , rather than sit down and talk like civilized people, you would end up ordering our execution in the dead of the night by a member of our own clan, our own _family_?!” Tsume roared, slamming her fist on the table as she stood. “The Kyuubi attack reduced the village to half its strength sure, but we still had each other! We could have plowed through! To force someone to murder their entre clan-!”

“And you two gave permission for this.” Shikaku pointed out, staring at the two non-affiliated elderly council members, who were currently stoically looking straight ahead. “Even if Hokage-sama’s mind was muddled, it was your duty to _this village,_ and thus, all its members, to be fair and just-“

“This is a ninja village.” Utatane scoffed. “If you have no stomach for betrayal, you’re in the wrong profession. Further, if we’d seen any other way-“

“It’s not that simple, either!” Homura interrupted, sneering. “A civil war could have brewed out of that mess! The village’s strongest clan segmenting and falling apart to pieces… we’d be vulnerable on both fronts!”

“I’ll give you that. But were attempts at resolution even made?” Naruto interrupted, watching the window where Sasuke disappeared through with an uncharacteristic frown. “Did the lot of you not realize that any dead Uchiha’s Sharingan could have been graverobbed and the perpetrator was an outsider to the village?”

Silence.

“Or, that the Sharingan, being not a one hundred percent immune at its basest level to genjutsu, was just another loyal villager trapped in a technique? Or that somewhere, _somehow_ , you vultures went completely wrong and forced someone to act this way? Even a public statement claiming that the Uchiha were innocent would have done wonders, while you investigated from the shadows.” he continued, uncaring of the gazes on him. “Regardless, I’m not here to prosecute people I already deem guilty.” He carelessly tossed a scroll that he unsealed from a storage seal on his wrist. “Here is a list of crimes that some or all of you have committed. I’m sure Shodaime-sama would be ecstatic at the way you nurtured his and Uchiha Madara’s dream.” He then turned towards the window. “No wonder Senju Tsunade wishes not to return… how can anyone see their family’s dream besmirched this way?” Then he abruptly dispersed, proving to be a Shadow Clone.

Silence yet again.

“We respected you, Hokage-sama.” A civilian council member said, standing. “While I may not be a ninja, and certainly cannot claim to be a saint, I’d never ever force someone to butcher their entire clan. I’d never lift my eyes from someone who I could never fully trust. And I would _never_ be foolish enough to believe that in a council of twenty plus members, none would disclose an S-rank secret outside. In fact, I can say with utmost certainty I am the only one here that did not disclose Naruto’s jinchuuriki status to anyone. Does anyone refute this?”

Many members, mostly the shinobi side, flinched.

“I have my answer.” He said, walking to the door. “I hereby resign from this farce of a democracy in what is clearly a monarchy. And I will not step in these halls as long as those three,” he said, jerking his chin towards the three oldest in the room, “still have any say in how the village works.”

Tsume stood next. She opened her mouth to say something, but thought better of it. The Inazuka were quite pack-oriented, and she didn’t know what a member of her clan would do if he or she was ordered by the Hokage himself to kill the rest. Actually, she had a pretty good idea of what would happen. Another seppuku, since the loyalty to the clan and the loyalty to the village would collide. She simply walked out.

One by one, many trailed out of the office, until only Nara Shikaku, Yamanaka Inoichi, the two advisors, and Hiruzen himself were visible. The ANBU on the ceiling could not leave even if they wished to – such was their loyalty to the position of Hokage.

“Hiruzen-dono,” Shikaku finally spoke, breaking the tense silence, “am I not your tactical advisor? Am I not in command of your ANBU forces? Why was I not even informed of this? Why did you not at least run this idea by me? Everything would have been so much more different…”

“I… I don’t know.” The old man sighed, head in his hands. What hurt him was not that everyone had left – people stormed out of council sessions all the time.

NO, what hurt him most, was Naruto’s claim about Shodaime-sama.

Hiruzen’s heart clenched painfully in his chest.

 

***

 

 **‘Well… that was entertaining. I see your acting skills haven’t rusted.’** The Kyuubi mused.

Naruto smiled a small, true smile from where he stood atop the Hokage Monument, on the head of the Sandaime. _‘Your faith in me s astounding.’_

 **‘We still have a lot of work to do before we’re ready, not the least of which is strengthening the ninja of the village since you took out the few competent ones last night.’** The Kyuubi sighed, but Naruto could sense amusement from the seal. **‘Shall we begin?’**

Naruto looked at the village he once was stupid enough to call his home. He wondered how it would feel to absolutely crush it with the barest thought, and found himself craving for it. _‘Yes, Kyuubi-sama. It’s time for the beginning of the end.’_


	15. Bidden

Naruto sighed as he finished the last touch on the scroll. Luckily, Shiro had been a sealing savant, not quite on the level of someone like Jiraiya of the Sanin, but enough to suit his purposes.

 _‘I sure hope this works, Kyuubi-sama.’_ The redhead sighed.

As he expected, there was no response.

It was currently approximately a week after Naruto exposed the truth behind the Uchiha massacre. While no outward action had been taken by the Konoha Council, the redhead was at least sure that the group of men and women were in complete disarray. Hiruzen had not come out of his office at all during the time, and Naruto felt satisfaction in the fact that the man finally seemed to be thinking about his actions.

Meanwhile, however, the young Uzumaki worked on the Edo Tensei jutsu.

Kabuto had managed to come up with something similar from scratch, but it was not what he wanted. So instead, he looked through the Forbidden Scroll again, absently also taking note of the various Mokuton Jutsus listed within. However, the focus had been the Edo tensei.

He then set to work.

Hashirama Senju’s DNA was something of a philosopher’s stone in and of itself. The man didn’t need to eat or sleep, nor did he ever feel tired unless from acute chakra exhaustion or over usage. Naruto didn’t know why, exactly, but he suspected that the Kyuubi did know.

Instead of wasting time trying to puzzle that out, however, he set to work on the jutsu that was one of the last steps in his journey to his goal.

What Edo Tensei did was essentially snag the soul that once shared DNA with the target DNA provided by the user, break down a living body, and replicate a vessel so that the soul could inhabit it once more. He didn’t understand how chakra, which normally was pretty explainable in and of itself, could do that – elemental jutsus and illusions were something else… but resurrection…

He shrugged it off, however. He _was_ the ruler of a society based on souls after all.

Working on seals did not seem to have ignited any sort of passion within Naruto for the art. Maybe he was the black sheep of the Uzumaki family, a clan known mainly for their focus on Fuuinjutsu in all walks of live.

But Uzushio was long gone. He’d know, it was just an hour ago he was standing amidst its ruins.

Naruto examined the seal one last time, before looking up at the wide array of masks set out on the wall in front of him. The Forbidden Scroll also held extensive notes on a Fuuinjutsu called Shiki Fuujin. It almost seemed too convenient… like the world itself was helping him on his path…

But he digressed. Looking a gift horse in the mouth was just pure idiocy.

He snagged the correct mask from the wall and looked at it. The Shinigami of this dimension was a real ugly person. Or was it a free Zanpakuto spirit, the last remnant of the Shinigami cabal here?

He took a deep breath, looked through his notes once more even though he had memorized it with the Sharingan, and then shoved the mask on.

He felt a sizeable reiatsu surge, but shrugged it off with his own monstrous levels. Thus, he was unimpeded as he flashed through the hand-signs, and then intoned, “Shiki Fuujin- Kai!”

Since he couldn’t see what was happening behind him while his own jutsu somewhat forced him to hold still, Naruto instead simply focused. While in no way a braggart, he would still claim that his concentration was one of the most refined in the elemental nations, having assimilated the likes of Yakushi Kabuto and Mofuko Shiro. It still seemed to be only barely enough. He concentrated deep on the sample of the Yondaime’s DNA he had grave-robbed the night before, and focused on the tugging sensation he felt.

He heard a slice behind him, like someone had just cut skin, and from his peripheral vision a blue chakra construct flew towards the pathetically paralyzed civilian he had kidnapped from the village. The man would have opened his mouth in silent agony, had it not been stitched shut. No, instead there was pained humming.

The body broke down before his eyes. This was fascinating, as it seemed to emulate decay or rotting. When the body was nothing but greyish brown ash, it seemed to clump up together and shape up into a vaguely humanoid shape that gained definition by the minute.

Naruto then felt a blade approaching. The sensation was… strange, he would later decide. It felt like a Shinigami from Soul Society was trying to cleanse his spirit.

He simply smirked, and released the hold on his own reiatsu by the tiniest possible fraction. Assimilating Kurosaki had been a goldmine – the kid was Hollow, Shinigami, Quincy, and Human in equal parts, which allowed for a virtual exponential growth of reiatsu. Add to that his instinctual grasp on all spiritual techniques from any origin, and he was a monster. The only thing holding him back was lack of information.

The feeling halted, and then there was a bright flash of light. Naruto released the hand-sign and turned away from the still-forming body to note that the ‘Shinigami’ had vanished.

Pity. He was looking forward to finding out whether it could ‘die’.

He turned his attention back to the forming body in front of him. Dull color was now emerging in time with the sculpting of the form, and Naruto just stared until the man in front of him fully formed.

Blonde hair with twin bangs on either side of the face, just as the monument showed. His skin tone was a bit off from what Naruto learnt from Ao’s memories… perhaps it was a perversion of the jutsu itself – cracks lined the visage and the man’s forearms. He waited until the blue eyes opened and registered shock to speak.

“Hello, father.”

 

***

 

In Amegakure, in a tower known adoringly to the villager’s as God’s Palace, an emaciated redhead wearily opened his eyes.

“Finally… it will be whole again…”

 

***

 

Sakura was confused.

She could not find Naruto or Sasuke anywhere. It had been a week since the exams were over, and yet they were nowhere. Granted, she only just began searching for them since she was getting reacquainted with Ino, but still…

Turns out, getting her burdens off her chest helped her a lot. She felt lighter than she had in years, and there was a spring to her step that no one had noticed since she left Konoha. She was embarrassed to admit that most of the time spent with her friend was spent crying…

And then that kiss before she left…

Ugh! It’s out of the frying pan and into the fire, with these emotions! It seemed like she only just felt better about everything that happened and now Ino… Not to say that Sakura was completely over everything, nothing could do that. But… it wasn’t a stabbing pain in her eyes and heart anymore-

“Oof!”

She uncaringly patted her shoulder where she bumped against the civilian, out of her reverie but mind brought back to the problem at hand. Where were her teammates?

Maybe the Hokage would know?

Swirling her magic around her subtly, invisible to all but herself, she charged her feet with it, pictured the Hokage’s office, and stepped forward. The teleportation spell didn’t disorient her as it once used to, and she found herself in the office with the Hokage… and another long-white-haired individual.

Wait. Was that-

“Ah, Sakura-chan. Just the person I needed to see.” The Hokage smiled at her from behind his desk, but Sakura could easily note something was off. The smile looked a bit forced, the shinobi on her left, Jiraiya of the Sannin, if she remembered correct, wore a barely controlled frown, and the whole room was bathed in tension.

“Gomen-nasai, Hokage-sama,” she spoke softly, “I was wondering if you have sent Naruto or Sasuke on a mission…? I can’t seem to find them anywhere.” Sakura noticed that both men flinched at Naruto’s name. What had he done now? More importantly, would it make her life more interesting?

“Ah, the two of them have simply departed on training leave. When they return, you may chastise them for their carelessness in informing you.” The Hokage smiled a sad smile. “Also, if you are not quite busy at the moment…?”

“Not at all, Hokage-sama.”

“Very well. This is-“

“Densetsu no Jiraiya, Toad Sage and specially designated ‘Sannin’.” Sakura interrupted, making the Hokage small a small smile of amusement and Jiraiya to quirk his brow. “Part of Team 10 in his youth under yourself, teammates with Tsunade Senju and Orochimaru. Famous for Fuuinjutsu prowess and utilizing Earth and Fire release. Extremely perverted author and-“

“Yes, that’s me.” Jiraiya interrupted with a nervous chuckle while the Hokage sweat-dropped. “I need you to accompany me on a retrieval mission. The reason is that the person we are going to collect has high respect for Kunoichi who are strong, and thus may be more inclined to listen if you tag along.”

Sakura barely refrained from rolling her eyes. She technically wasn’t a kunoichi anymore, not since she exchanged her chakra for magic. She wondered if explaining the intricacies of how she emulated being a shinobi would convince anyone of the truth, so she resigned herself to be considered as such. “Very well. Additionally, I command methods of travel that can make journeys instantaneous as long as I have the coordinates of a location, which should cut down our travel time massively. Who are we retrieving and where are we headed?”

“We are setting out to search for Senju Tsunade, my old teammate. Since I’m a people person and a spy rolled into one, it’s obvious I’d keep track of her – she’s currently in Tanzaku Gai.”

“Tanzaku Gai…” Sakura mused. “I’ve been there before when I was a child… prepare yourself and meet me at the village gates. We can reach there within a minute.”

 

***

 

“… Naruto?” Minato’s shocked voice sounded. Then, a slow smile graced his face. “My… how you’ve grown.”

Naruto’s stoic demeanor was cracking.

_‘How dare he… how dare he smile at me after…’_

“Otou-san.” Naruto nodded. “I will thank you for handing over the Yin half of Kyuubi-sama’s chakra.”

Minato’s face grew confused, then quickly into alarm. “Kyuubi… sama? Naruto, have you spoken to- … wait… did _you_ use the Edo Tensei?! Why do you have a Sharingan and a Byakugan?! What-”

“I have no time for meaningless prattle.” Naruto growled, and raised his right hand. A reddish-orange chain shot out of his palm and headed straight for Minato’s belly.

It was a true testament to his control over his emotions that Minato gathered himself, threw one of his Hiiraishin Kunai and ported to it just when the chain slammed into the temple wall behind him. “Naruto! Get a hold of yourself! Tell me what happened!”

“Useless!” Naruto growled, launching more chains from the palms of his hands. “I can keep launching as many- oof!”

Naruto’s sentence slipped as he was hit head on with a Rasengan into his chest, launching him out thee back of the temple and off the cliff it was built upon. Growling, he subconsciously used the Keijugan to levitate. “Wrong move.”

“Naruto,” began Minato, crouched low and Hiraishin kunai in one hand, “I don’t know what happened to you. Unless you tell me, I won’t be able to help-“

“I do not need help!” Naruto yelled, and a bright bluish-grey chakra burst from his stomach, enveloping his entire form. “Certainly not from **NO GOOD KONOHA TRASH LIKE YOU!”**

Minato was stunned. This is not what he wanted for his son at all! If the resentment in Naruto’s voice as any indicator, the village had clearly slighted him. What did Hiruzen do? Thinking quickly, Minato removed four bomb balls filled with his kunai and lunched it in the air, covering a good distance from the cliff on all sides with his Hiraishin Kunai. Then, he too pulled from the foreign chakra source from within him, setting his form alight with orange light, and intricate tomoe-shaped seal markings he knew through and through. After all, reasoning with the Kyuubi was easier when its more emotional yang chakra was out of the way.

“Naru-“

**“DO NOT SPEAK MY NAME!”**

And then they both moved.

While Naruto was fast, on his own he had no hope to match Minato’s Hiraishin speed without help. He knew this, and opened up a reserve of chakra the Kyuubi had been building for him to be used in dire circumstances. This resulted in flashes of yellow and blue lighting up the dark night, seemingly appearing in no small distances from each other in the barest of mini-seconds. Were an outsider to look upon this spectacle, they would more lean towards tricks of like than actual two people fighting with pure chakra – Minato’s will and Rasengan versus Naruto’s and Kyuubi’s anger

Eventually, however, the two males clashed, and skidded away from each other. While Minato could not die or run out of chakra, he could get exhausted. He crouched panting for breath, While Naruto looked on stoically, having exhausted the store of Kyuubi’s chakra he had from the thirty minute long constant flashing, dodging, and swiping.

“Naru… to… what… happened…” panted out Minato, clearly still confused.

“You. You happened.” Naruto spoke, rather arrogantly turning away from his enemy and facing the night sky. Well, he had reassurance from the modifications in the jutsu he crafted that Minato would always appear next to him if he attempted to run away. Hell, he could even end it within a second.

But… no.

No matter how one put it, repressed or redirected anger was bad. This is something Yuki Haku believed in, and worked tirelessly to calm his master down, or attempt to let him let go of his fury. Naruto himself could see the merits of a clearer head – he’d already made several battles last longer in feeble subconscious attempts to vent out his anger when he could have ended it in a second, he’d made mistakes in strategies back in Hueco Mundo several times, he’d-

No.

He… needed to let go of his anger and focus only on his goal.

“You… doomed me.” Naruto spoke, voice back to monotone. “The night that Kyuubi-sama was sealed into me was a declaration of a fate for me that none would wish upon themselves. Instead of keeping it to himself, your predecessor revealed my Jinchuuriki status to the village. This caused those ants to view me as a demon incarnate, rather than a savior who hoped them as you wished. Hiruzen further complicated this by setting a law forth about not revealing this to anyone else who didn’t know… namely me.

“I lived twelve years – twelve agonizing years of horrible events. I won’t go so far as to say I’ve had the worst – that ould be self-complacent. No, but I will say that I wsn’t strong enough to handle the things they threw at me. I plastered a smile on my face and pretended to be happy, while aiming to be the Hokage in order to finally have anyone look at me with anything other than hatred… or even just look at me.

“When it all did come to a head… I realized that I was slaving away for a fool’s dream. My parents did not care enough to stay alive for me, the village definitely wished I was dead, and I had nothing but my foolish dream to live on.”

Minato gasped. “Na-“

“I know you will protest, say that your wife and you loved me the most in the world, but that would be lies. The village came first and foremost, enough so, that even knowing all that Jinchuuriki face, you would damn your son to a fate such as that. Eventually, and only just a week ago, actually, I realized that the system in itself is flawed. Condemning a person, absolutely hating them, imprisoning them in their own home, yet calling on them for help, and all against their will – that is the definition of making someone a Jinchuuriki. Coming together for mutual interests in order to foster hostilities in secret or in groups against another community – that is the definition of a village.”

“A single person cannot instigate changes on the level you’re thinking about.” Minato spoke, but it was much quieter now. Naruto looked back to see his father kneeling, head bowed, perhaps in shame.

He smiled. “Ah, but whoever said anything about change?”

Minato’s gaze shot up. “What are you- urk!”

He looked down to see the very chains of the Uzumaki Fuuinkusari pierce through his stomach. Another pierced right where his heart would be.

“Poor, poor Minato. Are you not a ninja? Did you not anticipate I would sent chains out from the soles of my feet into the ground to erupt behind you and assimilate?” Naruto mused, head tilted. “Nevertheless – before I rip you out, I must thank you for allowing me to release my anger. My mind has been… made clear. I realize that I need… no crutch … in order to destroy the shinobi world.”

“Naruto …” Minato wheezed. “do not condemn … the mass … for the actions … of an individual. This isn’t … this isn’t what …  we wanted-“

“What you wanted and what will happen seldom align perfectly.” Naruto said. “Was this not part of what you wanted, me, strong enough to match any foe?  Me, standing on the precipice of change?”

“We never wanted … pain … for you, Naruto.” Minato whispered. “I trusted the … villagers to be-“

“Ah, but that was another mistake on your part.” Naruto pointed out. “I grow weary. Farewell, my demon.”

And then he _pulled_.

**‘KukukukukukuHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!’**

Naruto gasped as he felt immense weakness. He barely noted the Edo Tensei fading due to a lack of soul in his swimming vision, falling to his knees as he was beckoned into his mindscape.

The mental Konohagakure copy around him seemed to melt into blackness. He found himself back into the sewer where Kyuubi originally resided…

And the seal was cracking.

 **“Sorry, Naruto, but you’re just as foolish as all the other meatbags!”** the Kyuubi laughed, and with a single swish of his arm, the cage shattered. **“Did you really think I’d go along with your plans? I am the Kyuubii no Kitsune, firstborn of the Rikudo Sennin! I am my own creature!”**

Naruto panted as his mind methodically shut down around him. No.. not even….

“So… you lied all this time?”

The Kyuubi grinned, showing his sharp blackened teeth. **“Every word, every encouragement, everything I said or did was to deepen your trust in me! It my always my foremost desire to get out of this cage, and lowering your subconscious mental defenses against me, an unknown, was always my mission! Now I can finally get free!”**

Naruto bowed his head. He could feel a freezing feeling coming from his stomach, and knew the seal was fracturing…

It was never meant to hold both the Yin and Yang halves of a gigantic monster. And even then, the modifications Naruto had caused by assimilating so many people… it was damned near impossible for a lone shinobi, even a ramped up Uzumaki like him, to control the Kyuubi, especially since the beast had a lot of control over his body and emotions and could control his access to his most useful tools, such as the Mokuton and his Uzumaki Fuuinkusari. There was nothing he had that-

He felt the Kyuubi saunter closer, eyeing him like prey... no... he wouldn't be prey again!

No!

No….

There was one thing he could do to this beast, who was the source of his powers and elemental transformations… his hollow spirit.

He concentrated, and finally felt his concentration graze across the seal he had planted for this very occurance.

A contingency he hoped he’d never have to use…

But then again, hope was for the weak.

 **“Any last words?”** The Kyuubi asked, his voice barely hding the pain he felt at having to lose one of the humans he’d gotten closest to.

“Yes, Kyuubi-sama.” Naruto coughed out, then took  calming breath. While the Kyuubi waited, he snapped his hands into a Snake hand-sign. “Fuuinjutsu: Kaija Houin!”

The Kyuubi looked at him in confusion, before the very chamber they were in began to collapse. Naruto grinned as the cold feeling in his belly faded, and was replaced by blistering heat.

 **“What… what is this?!”** the Kyuubi demanded, before screaming in pain. Multiple somethings beneath its very fur seemed to begin to crawl, itching to break out.

“While you rested to reclaim your chakra before we battled with Minato, I used my admittedly limited fuuinjutsu knowledge to make some alterations to the seal, in the event you rebelled against me.” Naruto spoke, although he knew that the Kyuubi was too far gone in pain to even hear him. And even if not, he would never be able to hear the human over his monstrous screams. “This, Kyuubi-sama, was what I wanted from the very beginning. If I can fool my teammates, what makes you think I can’t fool you? The Yamanaka scrolls allowed me to learn several mind related jutsus, and I was discretely able to forge a fake thought process directly over mine… you were being deceived from the very beginning, but when you believed I let down my guard, I only strengthened it.”

The Kyuubi convulsed, and then _split._

Several different balls of chakra, chi, spirit energy, and reiatsu launched themselves out of the being’s body, hovering in Naruto’s mindscape and rotating around the lone two consciousnesses present. Naruto latched onto Kyouka Suigetsu’s Reiatsu, and used it to revitalize himself and strengthen his Kotoamatsukami.

The Kaija Houin was a very basic seal, at its lowest level. It was basically an expelling jutsu, allowing the user to purge foreign energies from the subject.

For Naruto, it meant that when he used it on the Kyuubi, who was at this point more composed of foreign energies than anything else, even after reclaiming his Yin chakra, the being would literally be in a world of pain… and more importantly, weakened enough for Naruto to enact something that he felt would essentially end his humanity.

When the Kyuubi’s scream choked out as the last of the foreign energies were expelled, Naruto wasted no time in levitating to the center of the myriad of floating orbs and above the Kyuubi.

“Fuuinkusari!” Naruto screamed, in equal parts fear and determination. _‘Now is not the time to second guess myself.’_

The orbs halted, and began to vibrate.

**“Ga- gaki, no!”**

“Tajyuu Shohi Suru!”

Multiple fuuinkuari chains shot out of Naruto, impaling all the energy orbs and the Kyuubi himself, who chocked at the sensation. Then, they were rapidly retracted, dragging along with them all the light in the cavern.

And in the darkness, Naruto screamed.


	16. Obituary: Cerulean

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greetings!  
> As you may know, the chapter before this one originally ended with Naruto using the Kotoamatsukami on Kyuubi in order to subjugate him. Now, when a reviewer pointed out the the Kyuubi should have been able to see this coming and probably have not been so easy to hit with it, I offered up a rather weird excuse, that, when I reread it yesterday, was frankly strange even to me. You can find the reasoning behind the previous ending in the comments section of the previous chapter, under a comment left by the user 'jeanette9a'. After reviewing the chapter, I realized that there was an alternate way to end it, and made a change. I urge all readers to kindly revisit the chapter and reread the last few paragraphs in order to not be lost when it comes to this chapter. I am incredibly sorry for the inconvenience. 
> 
> Again, PLEASE REREAD THE LAST FEW PARAGRAPHS OF THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER.

A simple grey rectangle construct of ice formed right above where the bed was situated. Out of it stepped a humanoid figure whose features could not be distinguished due to the dark.

“You’re late.”

The figure that emerged did not even falter in his steps. “Sakura. Breaking and entering is still an offense, even if we do live in a ninja village.”

“Nine days, Naruto.” Sakura said in a too-calm voice. “It has been nine days since the preliminary-final stage of the chuunin exams. Where have you been?”

“Oh, just training.” He said, waving his hand over his shoulder… that much the pink haired girl could make out as he turned to step into what she had previously checked to be the washroom. “I got it approved by the Hokage.”

“Ex-Hokage, you mean.” Sakura drawled, standing to reach for the light switch. “A new one was elected two days ago – they had he village-wide crowning ceremony yesterday.”

Naruto hummed. “Who is it?”

“Senju Tsunade.” Sakura spat the name out as if it was dirt as she flicked the lights on, then turned as she heard footsteps. “The woman is a wreck. A heavyweight alcoholic with a fear of blood to boot, no tactical mind, and absolutely no tact at…. oh.”

Naruto emerging from his bathroom definitely did not look the same as he did around a week ago.

For starters, his skin was pure white – milk white. This she could affirm since he wore nothing from the waist up at the moment, probably having tossed it for washing. His torso was lined with a … glowing tattoo… that looked eerily like the skeletal structure of the fish between its ‘skull’ and ‘tail’. His Left eye was … strange. Rather than the bland orange and bulging veins she had come to assosciate with Naruto’s Mofuko Byakugan, his eyes showed a marked difference.

The iris seemed to be dual toned, with white towards the center fading into pitch black towards the rim. A glowing six petaled flower seemed to be barely visible, and the sclera was a normal white. The eye itself also seemed to radiate an otherworldly power. On the other hand, his right eye was now a strange thing. It gave off a more powerful but still comparable feeling as Sasuke’s Sharingan, but it looked markedly different. A black four-point pinwheel against a white Iris, with normal sclera. She only briefly pondered what that could mean.

A little into his hairline on his left side, a pure black horn emerged and pointed straight ahead. His hair was pure white too. Did he also seem… shorter, than before? Finally, all of his features seemed more defined – his jawline, his cheekbones, his ribs, collarbone… everything seemed to have lost a previously unnoticeable layer of fat.

In addition to that, his energies were different. Where even on his return from the alternate universes his energy still remained chakra at its base, it now gave off a very different feeling…

Almost like the Soul Magic she’d come to despise, but… lighter and yet darker at the same time.

What exactly was this boy doing?

“Naruto?” Sakura questioned, sceptic.

The boy quirked an amused smile. “Indeed, Sakura, its me.”

She snorted. “What happened to you?”

“I,” Naruto started, then paused for dramatic effect, or to contemplate, Sakura never could tell the difference, “just put two nobodies in their place.”

Sakura simply arched a delicate eyebrow in response. “You look like you’ve just come out from a manga.”

“Well…”

“Look, I was just worried, okay?” Sakura said, biting her lip and looking away. “I have lost too many people to lose any more.”

There was silence, before he spoke. “So what has happened in the village while I have been gone?”

Sakura sighed. “For one, there was a leak in the black ops division. A scroll full of secrets involving our past Hokage and his advisors was disguised as a children’s story scroll in the shops this morning. No one knows who did it but there will be a public announcement about it tomorrow.”

She didn’t see Naruto give a strange smile with a mix of confusion and amusement. “That’s… amusing.”

Sakura looked at him, seemingly gauging his reaction, before she smiled. “I know, right? A village full of ninja, yet they’re so into family values and ‘unity’ that they can’t handle what their very title effectively entails. It’s pathetic. No more so than their Hokage.”

“’Their’ Hokage, Sakura? Isn’t she your Hokage, too?” Naruto asked, walking over to his wardrobe and plucking out a white kimono.

“I’m still the Pink Terror of Fiore, Naruto.” She smiled at him sadly. “I… after so long, I can’t even see my parents as my parents anymore, they’re just children to me. This village itself is full of children – humans floundering about being hypocritical, it’s just…”

“It’s not home.” Naruto completed, fastening the thin black obi low around his waist. “Does Noctis have the right idea? Wanting to go back….?”

“Noctis? Sasuke’s is using his other name now?

“He renounced the name, and all but declared he was going to leave the village after…”

“After the truth about Itachi came out. The village is still reeling in shock from that.” Sakura sighed. “They’re second guessing everything Sandaime did, even the good things.”

“That’s what humans tend to do, Sakura.” He shrugged. “They tend to hammer their own feet.”

“Then what are we, if not human?” she thought out loud, walking to the window. She gazed at the slightly cloudy sky, and pointed upwards. A spell circle only she could see materialized, and the clouds soon dissipated.

“I’m a demon…” Naruto spoke softly, “and I’m debating between angel or light spirit for you.”

“Flatterer.” She smiled.

The both savored the silence of companionship for quite some time before Sakura spoke again.

“I wasn’t the only one searching for you. Kakashi has been going nuts.” Sakura said, rising. “I’m dead on my feet anyway… go see him.”

Naruto inwardly blanched. He… he was so single-minded in reviving the Yondaime that he completely forgot about his Koinu. Damn…

Outwardly, however, he just gestured to his bed. “My bed is yours to use.”

Sakura shook her head. “I’ll have to decline. Ino must be waiting for me. It _is_ past twelve after all…”

“Ino?” Naruto asked, arching a brow as they both walked to his front door. “Yamanaka Ino?”

Sakura elbowed him. “Yes, Yamanaka Ino. Problem?”

Naruto shook his head and plastered a lecherous grin on his face. “Not. At. All.”

Sakura blushed. “It… it’s not… I mean… we haven’t done _that_ yet!”

Silence.

“I just realized you didn’t ask that.”

 

***

 

Naruto formed an ice mirror just inside to door to the one-bedroom apartment. He marveled at the ease at which jutsu came to him now, and scarcely believed anything could feel more amazing. After all, Otsutsuki Hamura’s chakra now flowed though his veins, permanently altering his own signature.

In every sense of the word, he was an Otsutsuki.

Kurama’s memories had been very informative. As soon as he had woken up from the assimilation of so many forms, he knew he was on a clock before his body grew unstable from so many energies and exploded in chakra, enough to end all life on Earth.

The solution was simple, however only one of the two options were in reach.

While Hagoromo still roamed this universe’s version of the spirit world, Hamura had departed to the moon and peacefully passed on. If he could get his hands on his chakra… with the Kyuubi’s regenerative abilities, even a skin flake would suffice. His plan was to track the man’s final resting place with the chakra-viewing capabilities of the Sharingan, and assimilate whatever DNA was left to add Otsutsuki DNA, highly resilient, partially alien DNA, to his own, that would stabilize him and even grant him more leeway.

What he found was so much better than anything he imagined.

The Tenseigan was so much better than anything he imagined.

He shook his head of the thoughts of the past and gazed around. This wasn’t the first time he was here. While Kakashi was very waste-not-want-not, all high class Jounin were forced into living in an apartment gifted to them by the Hokage if they weren’t from a clan. Since Kakashi could not bear to live in the same house his father had committed Seppuku in, he’d been living in one ever since that day.

He crept quietly through the structure, barely making a sound, until he eventually came across a sleeping Kakashi slumped sideways on a couch. The man was a Jounin ex-ANBU, and normally would have woken up at the barest of sounds, but Naruto was pleased to see that even subconsciously the man has accepted him as perfectly safe.

His fingers slid through the rough tresses of the man’s hair. What would he do with him, when the time came? Kakashi may love him, but the village too held his loyalty. Sure, in anger he once attempted to murder the citizens in retaliation for the crimes inflicted on Naruto, but anger has a way of making people do stupid things… he’d know.

His eyes eventually drifted to the human’s clenched fist, and spotted a sheaf of stapled paper. He gently coaxed them out and began to read… a decoded letter from Jiraiya of the Sannin?

As his eyes roved over the papers, his mouth lifted into a smile.

“Time for another upgrade, then.” He whispered to the room. He bent over to kiss Kakashi’s forehead, and then slipped into a Makyo Hyosho smoothly.

The papers were left behind and slowly drifted to the floor. Eventually the timed safety seal would activate and vanish the ink on the pages – words that spoke of a mysterious organization known as Akatsuki and their last known appearance… on the borders of Amegakure.

 

***

 

Meanwhile, in another dimension, Noctis Lucis Caelum kept warping at an insane rate towards Insomnia. Never once did his limbs falter, nor did his mana decrease even by a fraction.

The Right of Conquest in the Laws of the Astrals did have its uses after all.

It took two full days for him to beat Chief Bahamut into submission, and the other Astrals had no choice but to bow to him now.

More importantly, the ring was his once more.

It didn’t come without cost. The powers of an Astral King were too much for a human body to bear, and so it had changed to accommodate, which wasn’t helped by the symbiotic Ring of Lucii. Along with other changes, his eyes lost their Sharingan, fully shedding all traces of chakra since he was overflowing with mana.

He was finally free of _that_ life.

And now… now there was another one just waiting for him.

 

***

 

In a high tower in the village of Amegakure, eight individuals currently occupied a long-ish meeting room. Being ninjas, they refrained from taunting each other for amusement… well… most of them did. A grey-haired loud-mouth just couldn’t seem to help himself but try to rile up the lone Sharingan wielder in the room. Regardless, all fell silent and moved to their positions around a long table set in the center of the room when two individuals joined them.

“I now call this bi-annual meeting of Akatsuki into order.” A deep voice spoke, and form the shadows emerged an orange haired man with multiple facial piercings of pitch black rods. This was Pein, the leader of the organization in question. He sent a ‘look’ at the newcomer in the orange swirl mask who wouldn’t quiet down, as even Hidan knew to shut up when they were in business mode.

“We have congregated here to ascertain whether or not we have gathered enough fame and funds to even consider beginning our true objective, and the rate of dependency on us compared to actual Shinobi villages.” The blue-haired girl with an origami rose in her hair continued in stride. Konan, the second-in-command, the rifled through some papers. “Which we are not. Kakuzu and Hidan are currently the most money-making members of our organization, followed loosely by Itachi and Kisame. On the other hand, Deidara and Sasori have actually _cost_ us due to,” and here she squinted her eyes, “wide scale property damage in our clients’ villages.”

“They didn’t appreciate my art, yeah.” A blonde long-haired individual spoke from his seat towards the end of the long tale. The hulking shape next to him that had a bandana-ed face and didn’t occupy a chair released a gravelly sigh. “Don’t be so high and mighty, Sasori, yeah. They needed a glimpse of my grandiose creations, yeah.”

“You levelled Ishigakure.” The gravelly voice spoke, as if to a small child.

There was a bark of laughter from a blue-haired, blue-faces man with gills and sharp teeth. “And people call me destructive.”

“Oh, that’s not all **that the idiot ended up doing.”** Twin voices emanated from a… half white and half black man with a venus flytrap-like collar. “Deidara-san also killed **the fricking Yukage, who was** there on a peace-treaty-signage. **We’ve been outlawed.”**

“We will discuss the consequences of Deidara’s foolishness later.” A man in a half-cloth-half-metal kabuto and a facemask replied. “We should move regardless. We’re already criminals, what’s some stealing to us? I’m concerned about a target – the Kyuubii – reports are suggesting that the jinchuuriki is just getting stronger by the day.”

Pein looked at Kakuzu with amusement – denoted by exactly nothing on his face or in his voice. “I never assumed you to be the worrying sort.”

“Even I know when a powerful one is on the rise – I’ve seen it happening many times before.” The man answered. “He already killed the Mizukage months ago. By now-“

“I have eyes on him.” Pein interrupted. “And… an interesting development has come forth. There was only half of the Kyuubi sealed within. He performed Edo Tensei to revive the container of the other half and assimilate him, thereby completing the best.”

Sharingan eyes moved to Zetsu and back to the leader too fast for anyone to see. _‘What is Naruto doing…?’_ “The other Jinchuuriki are nothing to scoff at, either.” He said instead. “The Nanabii has attained complete synchronization with her host and is now able to access her Bijuu form. I recommend quick action if her or … any of them are to be captured at all.”

Pein was about to say something when he halted, and quirked his head to the side. Konan looked up from the papers she was examining with an arched eyebrow.

“It seems, Itachi-san, that you may be right about that.”

“Oh, this is **just precious.”**

“Pein-sama?” Konan asked.

“It seems that the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki is suicidal… he just walked through the front gates.”

 

***

 

Naruto’s visage was one of amusement as he walked through the gates of Amegakure. Since tonight was a full moon, he simply chose to honor Hama and used bloodbending to snap the gate guards necks rather than go through the notions of a ‘fight’. People regarded him wearily due to his appearance but he didn’t care. He hummed a strange tune that he could not recall the origins of as he walked towards the ‘God’s Tower’.

Getting information on Akatsuki had been ridiculously easy – all he had to do was assimilate a few Bounty Station employees. Apparently, one of the members was an avid bounty collector.

“Halt in the name of God!” a shinobi said, and just like that Naruto was surrounded. “State your business- AAAAAAAAHHH!”

Since Naruto did not want to stop walking, he simply inhaled while drawing on his reiatsu to absorb the souls of the fools. “Mmmm… tastes like wasabi.”

Naruto either bloodbent or soul-sucked all the ninja who were foolish enough to try and stop him as he aimlessly wandered the village. He gained nothing in the process, but increased his reserves by ridiculously small amounts. Having assimilated who he had… even a kage-level shinobi would be an ant to him now. Civilians took one look at him and fled into their homes, and even some ninja pulled tail and ran – genins, probably. All the while, he waited for any member of Akatsuki to emerge to deal with him.

He wasn’t disappointed.

“You’re a cocky one, yeah.” A rather… unpleasant … voice spoke, and Naruto leisurely turned to the sound while coming to a complete halt. He turned just in time to catch a few white… clay birds(?) to his face, and then they exploded.

“He isn’t that strong in front of my art, yeah.” Deidara mused, hand-mouths already busy molding more shapes as he crouched low on his C2 Garuda.

“You are too cocky, Deidara.” Sasori spoke from next to him, however he was on the ground.

“Shut up, Sasori, yeah. You underestimate my art, yeah. Sometimes, it- urk!”

Sasori did not even bat an eye as Deidara rose off his creation and twisted into impossible angles. With a short scream of pain, his neck snapped. His clay creations vanished abruptly in plumes of smoke.

Naruto dispersed the smoke and dust with a simple gust of wind to show his right arm outstretched towards a still levitating Deidara’s corpse. “Ninja do not monologue.” He said, flicking his fingers to set fire to the blond nukenin’s corpse. He then regarded the other with an irritated frown. “And you don’t have any blood in you… how strange.” He was going to kill one and assimilate the other… but now that seemed impossible… and he couldn’t assimilate dead people either.

Sasori silently regarded him, before abruptly ripping off his cloak to show… a puppet?

“Ah, Sasori. This must be Hiruko.” Naruto nodded. “Kabuto double crossed you three years ago.”

Sasori did not rise up to the bait and simply opened Hiruko’s mouth, launching poison-gas grenades at Naruto. Said blonde simply stomped the ground, and then kicked forwards, launching a gigantic rock at the Akatsuki. Since Hiruko was not capable of extremely fast speed moves that would be the only way to dodge the projectile, Sasori gracefully abandoned his puppet through the launch-escape mechanism that he had implanted… only to be fried by lightning from two fingers from Naruto, the primal element arching through even the insulated body of the puppet through to his ‘heart’ and shattering it through overload of the Fuuinjutsu matrixes used to create it.

There truly was satisfaction in _not giving your enemy time to react or monologue_.

Naruto waited for a few minutes in a ready position, but when no one appeared, he assumed a lotus meditation pose to wait for his opponents, only to immediately have to dodge when a Raiton attack struck where he was sitting.

“Letting down your guard in enemy territory is suicide.” Kakuzu spoke, smirking under his mask. Four monstrous vaguely humanoid shaped string constructs stood behind him, and Hidan next to him.

“Let’s not waste any time.” Naruto spoke, and used bloodbending to pull Hidan close while also launching a Fuuinkusari chain out his palm. Hidan, who did not expect anything of the sort, and was unprepared.

“Shit!” Kakuzu cursed, and made handseals for a Sando targeting Naruto. The jutsu executed at the same time his masks launched Gian, Zukkoku, and Atsugai at the boy, while the final mask created a Suijinheki between the boy and Hidan.

Naruto was hit since he appeared to be concentrating too hard on the Fuuinkusari … but he dispersed?!

“Oh fuck me.” Hidan cursed, just as a Fuuinkusari erupted from the ground directly beneath him and speared through the sole of his feet, erupting from his head, and then rapidly retracting.

Silence reigned.

Kakuzu cursed his luck as he jumped onto the body of his Fire mask, risking that particular heart instead of his own main one regardless. He flexed his fingers, preparing to fly into battle at a moment’s notice.

His job just got a lot harder.

Harsh laughter erupted in the now thoroughly deserted street. Then, the entire village began to shake.

“Mokuton Hijutsu: Jukai Kotan!”

Then the ground erupted.

Kakuzu was alive during the time of the Shodaime Hokage. This jutsu was the one he had used to both create the forests around his village… and decimate entire clans when they sought to attack his home.

He didn’t remember the trees being black and the leaves white, however.

He felt rather than saw his Fire, Wind, and Water hearts get pierced through by the wood, shattering them at blinding speeds. He cared not for the commoners whose screams he could hear from below. These trees, they just grew so fast… however, his lightning mask and managed to dodge and eventually stick to the black bark beneath their legs.

“That’s… that’s all it took to become immortal? Aizen’s spirit would have been so angry right now…” the gaki’s voice spoke, and Kakuzu whirled around to find him directly next to himself. Then he saw darkness.

Naruto looked down on the dead nukenin with barely concealed glee. That bastard Hidan was literally immortal! Not because of any magic, chakra, or soul crap, but because of a simple reagent that flowed in his blood that was impossible to spot or replicate!

Who would have thought the secret to immortality would have been to-

Naruto launched into the air as he heard a strange fluttering, absently setting fire to Kakuzu’s corpse. He activated his keijugan and smiled as he gazed back down on his next opponents.

“Zetsu. Konan. Hoshigaki Kisame. And… Uchiha Itachi. Just the person I wanted to see.” Naruto grinned, his Byakugan focusing on said person. “Yes… Let’s battle!”

And all five shinobi blurred into motion. Wanting to focus on Itachi later for his own reasons, Naruto instead turned mostly to the other three.

“Gran Rey Cero.”

 

***

 

Noctis burst through the palace gates. His subjects looked at him in pleasant surprise, which eventually turned into cries of joy. Crystalline tears flowed from his eyes as he regarded his true family. Instead of waiting for their embrace, he vanished up the stairs in search  of Gladiolus amidst laughter and noises of celebration.

When he came upon where he could sense Gladiolus’ mana signature alone within, he halted at the door to gather his emotions. Taking a deep breath, he opened the door to his happiness…

And cried out in agony.

 

***

 

The four shinobi had simply leapt out of the way (Zetsu had simply sunk into the tree they were standing on, however.

Kisame and Itachi flew through hansigns and exclaimed, “Suiton: Daibakufu!”, and “Fuuton: Tatsumaki Saigai (Wind Realease: Tornado Disaster)!” respectively. While water began to spew and spin from Kisame’s mouth, the tornado that had begun to form a few dozen feet in front of Itachi began to spin with the water in tow. Eventually, a spinning tower of water that was also spinning on its own began picking up speed, barely managing any destruction against Naruto’s Mokuton trees but moving towards him none the less.

Naruto smirked and fell into a waterbending stance midair. With a simple motion upwards, the entire thing froze.

“Shikigami no Mai.” Naruto heard a quite voice proclaim, and he tumbled sideways swiftly to avoid the sharp paper creations that blurred past his previous position. He formed a singled Tora sign with his left hand and shot the flames of a Goumetsukyaku with his right hand… flames that were a blinding white color.

“What is it with this kid and Greyscale?” Kisame scoffed. “You’d think he’d be buddy-buddy with Zetsu!”

“Now is not the time.” Itachi quietly reprimanded him. _‘That shape… it was an Uchiha clan jutsu…’_

The paper kunai barely missed the flames. Konan reformed. “His flames… they can actually hurt my jutsu…”

Kisame startled, and so did Itachi, just not noticeably. “I thought those blasted things were element-proof?!”

“I-“

“Are you done bickering?” Naruto mused, the held out his right hand. A purplish-black orb seemed to expand from nothingness, and then seemed to transform itself into a simple staff. “Amuse me.”

Kisame surged forward with a primal roar and Samehada unbandaged, only to gasp as he found a hand in his chest, clenching painfully around his still beating heart.

“Not you, you’re boring.” Naruto grinned, eyes gleaming in his excitement. He then ripped the organ out and crushed it, uncaring of the red blood that seemed to be the only color on his limbs and clothes. He then set fire to the corpse that began falling, obliterating the sword with a cero from his pinky finger. “You two, however, are interesting.” He absently flicked his hands, and twin screams could be heard in the distance. “Even that flytrap was not even nearly as… entertaining.”

“Zetsu-san?” Konan questioned, voice monotone, but Naruto knew better. Shisui’s Mangekyou told him that she was nervous.

Meanwhile, Itachi only just caught sight of his eye. _‘That is… SHisui?! But how- oh no, I must recall-_ ‘

But it was too late.

 

***

 

Noctis stared at the burning remains of Insomnia with a dead gaze. The screams had died ages ago, and he was thankful. Never did he think that destroying the city would be easy, but… it is what was needed.

 _‘I will avenge you, Gladiolus… my love._ ’

 

***

 

You see, towards the beginning of the battle, Itachi had let lose his crow summon that held Shisui’s other eye in hopes to ensure that Naruto would never abandon Konohagakure or turn against it. With this unbelievable power, Naruto surely cold ensure the village’s survival. However, he also knew that Kotoamatsukami couldn’t work on another who had its counterpart… he knew this through his attempt to utilize the eye on Danzo.

But he also knew that the full strength of a Mangekyou could only be unleashed when the user bore two.

As the crow made its way towards Naruto, the white-haired teenager absently sent a Fuuinkusari towards the avian. Itachi attempted to make a handsign for a genjutsu, but the fact that the crow was so close could only mean one thing.

He was too late.

“Did you honestly think that I couldn’t feel the energies of Shisui’s eyes in the air, Itachi? I’m disappointed in how you underestimate me.” Naruto shook his head. The chain struck true, and then abruptly retracted. “Rest assured, I know exactly what to do with this power – not to use it at all.”

Konan’s impassive face hid her confusion, as did Itachi’s. “I do not understand.” Itachi spoke.

Naruto laughed as the chain fully retracted, sending a stinging sensation into his eyes. He felt even more power flow into them, and then agony began as the collective strength began to split between his two eyes. However, having high pain tolerance from both the Kyuubi as well as the events of the past few months, he hid it well, and closed his eyes. “Did you know that possessing Hashirama’s cells means that the recharge time of the Kotoamtsukami is reduced from a decade to barely over two hours?”

Itachi visibly started at that.

“Now think.” Naruto spoke, tapping his chin in mock pondering. “That timeframe was with Danzo – a non-Uchiha with _implanted_ Hashirama cells, possessing only one eye. Since the Uzumaki Fuuinkusari actually _rewrites_ my DNA, I’m both Uchiha and Senju, and Uzumaki to boot. With _both_ of Shisui’s eyes, I’m quite certain I can spam the genjutsu over and over with minimal effort.” He grinned, still keeping the fact that he had Hamura’s chakra close to his chest… Itachi probably wouldn’t even know who he was, anyway.

Itachi’s eyes widened, but then narrowed. “You will not do so… because it is not conducive to an… entertaining bout?”

“Bingo!” Naruto exclaimed, clapping his hands. “Now you get it. I’m just toying with the lot of you for reasons of my own. The only person who can even remotely have a chance against me is currently preparing for a jutsu that will do little against me but cripple him for quite a while from that tower.” He said, pointing towards the God’s tower.

 _‘Pein!’_ thought Konan, and immediately turned and dissolved into paper.

“Ah-ah. I think not.” Naruto spoke, and this time used Sonido to appear in front of the cloud of fast-travelling paper planes. He raised his staff to point an end at it and spoke, “Gran Rey Cero.”

The Reiatsu attack empowered by the slightest amount of Hamura’s chakra instantly obliterated the cloud. Even Itachi barely managed to dodge the light cyan colored blast, whose edge managed to somehow reach him where he was perched on the wall of a black tree.

“So, Itachi, do you understand your position?” Naruto sneered, spinning the staff in his hand negligently. “I’m just here for the leader of your little backstreet gang… but you lot just had to come in the middle didn’t you?”

Itachi slipped into thought. He still had his intentions with Sasuke to see through.. he couldn’t die here! Maybe if Naruto would listen-… why was his chest hurting?

He looked down to see the orange end of a Fuuin kusari protruding from his chest. He looked up at the white-haired boy only to see him disperse into smoke.

“K- kagebun-shin…” he coughed out. Only then did he feel the concealed presence behind him.

“Psych!” Naruto grinned, the boy’s chin resting on his left shoulder. He felt blood fall from his mouth. “I was really here for you all along, Itachi. Pein was just a consolation prize.”

And Itachi despaired as he drew his final breath, feeling only a tugging sensation in his chest rather than the fulfillment he wished he would feel in his being as he passed on.

 

***

 

“Find me Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, and Haruno Sakura in an hour!” the voice of _their_ new Hokage commanded, and Sakura almost faltered where she was just outside the door, about to knock. She continued with the motion and only barely mused at exactly why Tsunade needed them.

When she entered after being permitted, she spotted four others in the room; the ANBU who were likely there had already dispersed – either into the shadows or in search of her wayward teammates. Behind the woman – _cowardly turncoat unable to_ cope – on her right were the Sandaime Hokage – _the one who laid the foundations for Naruto’s and Noctis’ anguish_ – Myobokuzan no Jiraiya – _the one who abandoned Naruto due to emotional baggage_ – Kakashi with an ever-present Icha Icha title in hand – _Naruto’s beloved_ – and Shizune and Tonton – _the cute and innocent ones… respectively._

 “Hokage-sama.” She greeted, with the tilt of her head.

“Haruno Sakura.” The blonde in front of her nodded tersely. “I just sent for you and your teammates, actually. And since I believe that it will be long before the other two are found, I’ll lay this down in front of you as plain as day.” The woman steepled her fingers. “We have it on good authority that Sunagakure, Iwagakure, and Otogakure are planning to launch an invasion against us on the day of the final stage of the Chuunin exams. I would like your team to personally handle this. I can easily count on my ninja to launch into battle at a second’s notice, so I see little reason in informing them. However, From what I have heard of the abilities you three possess, I would like to give you three time to prepare – you will be our aces.”

Sakura took a moment to digest this. “Of course. I would do anything to protect my village.”

Tsunade smiled, and Sakura held back a scoff. The woman hadn’t even stepped into a hospital yet due to her fear of blood, and frankly, it was annoying. How was one supposed to lead a _ninja village_ when she was scared of blood? “I am glad to hear that. I am promoting the three of you to the rank of Jounin, under recommendation of your sensei. Since this will be a sort of undercover mission designated an S-Rank, I’ll leave the flak jackets for after the invasion. However, I recommend you talk to your sensei and then to your teammates about exactly what are the differences between-“

She was cut off when white motes of magic began to swirl next to Sakura.

“Kindly relax, mina.” Sakura chuckled lightly when everyone in the room tensed. “This is Noctis returning from…” _‘Wait a minute. How did he get so much more powerful?_ ’

The white particles of magic condensed to give way to a rather… different Noctis. Besides his eyes glowing a constant red , there seemed to be golden etchings in a foreign language down his arms – sleeves covered them no more; they seemed to have been ripped off from the trench-coat he used to sport. Almost writhing, jagged lines of black and red crossed every visible part of his body save his hair and eyes. It seemed to give him a look that presented having cracked.

“Sakura, I need to speak to you.” He said, voice sounding in a strange undertone that suggested a million voices were speaking with him. “Where is Naruto?”

“He should be here somewhere around the village.” She mused, disregarding everyone else in the room. AT his current form of evolution, Sasuke seemed to surpass even her considerable mana.

It seemed she’d have to perform the second and third origin rituals sooner than she thought.

 

***

 

Uchiha Obito was incensed in pure undiluted anger.

A single person. A single person bearing a single bloodline at the start was the reason for his downfall. As he ignored the pained expression on one of Nagato’s paths on his left, he simply clenched his fists in rage.

Uzumaki Naruto…

Madara’s instructions had been clear. Act in his name, and if all things went according to the plan they had hashed out down to the minutest detail, everything would fall into place for the resurrection of the Juubi and the fulfillment of their ambition to enact the greatest genjutsu, the Mugen Tsukuyomi, to rewrite reality itself.

His picture of reality was forever gone now…

_‘No… maybe this is salvageable. Naruto was apparently here for Itachi, and he got him now. With Nagato, and the Gedo no Mazo, within whom the ROkubi’s chakra currently resides, I can still-‘_

His thoughts were halted by a single sentence. “Well, you don’t look nearly as interesting.”

Obito whirled, Kamui ready to render him intangible to everything in ths dimension anda katon jutsu ready on his lips, but all he felt was a slash across his midsection, and then the onset of darkness.

His last thought was, _‘How was he able to wound me with Kamui active?’_

Naruto gazed at the fallen body of another Uchiha. _‘It’s good I imbued the Gudodama with Reiatsu… it felt like he was about to use a space-time technique. Hmm… the signature is much like the one I get from Kakashi’s eye… maybe this is the complete set? I’ll take this back to him as an apology for my behavior recently._ ’

As Naruto bent to remove the man’s mask and store his eyes in an ice vial he created on the spot, he felt eyes on him, but strangely no emotion. He could have sworn he felt an acute sense of loss from the figure in front of him before, but shoved the matter aside to focus on the task at hand.

Only when the eye was stored away safety and he stood, did the leader of Akatsuki, Pein, speak.

“What was your motive for attacking us today, Naruto-san?” the man spoke, his eyes boring into Naruto’s own. Naruto marveled at the beauty of his eyes. Six concentric ark-purpl circles spread out from the pupil across the color grey, with no distinction between the iris or sclerae. Unknown to him, his opponent was doing the same.

Naruto’s eyes had changed again. The hurdle to gaining to Eternal mangekyou Sharingan, that of combining the DNA of two closely related Uchiha clan Mangekyou users, was lost on him. The stipulation about ‘close relatives’ was, on close inspection, able to be comprehended as the fact that their DNA were so closely related that the combination would be flawless, thus allowing the ascension of the Dojutsu to its more powerful form.

For Naruto, whose bloodline gave him the very ability to decode and assimilate DNA, this problem was moot. He could just as easily combine the DNA of tow vaguely related members. But Uchihas Itachi and Shishui were cousins, simplifying this for him.

Both his eyes now bore the same markings. While his sclerae were white, his iris bore a miniature black four point pinwheel within the circle of a three point fuuma shuriken. Against a white background. If one squinted, they would also see a muted glow of a six point flower.

“The Totsuka no Tsurugi.” Naruto flippantly noted. “Hidan was a bonus.”

Pein, a man with orange hair and multiple black facial piercings (which Naruto noted gave off a similar feeling as his Gudodama, regarded him with an emotionless gaze. “And what do you aim to do with such power?”

Naruto observed the man with an amused look. “Why, level, Konohagakure of course.”

If the man felt any surprise, he as very good at concealing it. “Why?”

“I will give you the same answer I gave one of my victims.” Naruto sighed. “The idea of shinobi is a corrupt one. It has warped from something that could be vaguely considered humanitarian to something that brings destruction to the world at large. I simply want to bring about peace, and that can only be enforced with an absolute fist. And I will need power to back up that fist.”

Pein looked ambiguously impressed. “And so, you have come for me, the final threat to your dream of ruling.”

“I would consider it more of a dream of tranquility, but two people seldom view a single idea with the same nuances, unless taught to do so.” Naruto mused.

Pein shook his head with his first show of motion, a rueful smile. “I could not agree more.” He then seemed to contemplate something before nodding. “Then, follow me. This body is simply an extension of my awareness governed by my chakra. I will lead you to my original form, and the vessel for the Rokubi.”

Naruto part suspiciously and part amusedly regarded the hand the man held out to him. “Why?”

“Because standing against you would be suicide.” The puppet in front of him intoned. “And because, while we have the same dream, something tells me you’d be the better one to enforce it.”

Naruto took a minute to think about it, both burdened men staring into each other’s eyes for a few moments. Eventually, Naruto reached out to grasp his hand, and was led away to the elevator at the end of the hall. Pein did not see Naruto smirk in humor, nor was he able to hear his thought, _‘The Kotoamatsukami really did become stronger… I’ll lay some flowers on Shisui’s grave when I return to Konoha.’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greetings!
> 
> So we are incredibly close to the end on this fic. Originally, I was planning to split the story into two parts, pre-Shippuden and Shippuden, but then I realized that the pace of this story was way too fast for that. 
> 
> So instead, I have decided to finish this story in the next three or four chapters, then rewrite the entire thing at a later date and repost. I have to admit that this, being my most successful work so far, is what really kept me going through the few hurdles I have faced in the past months IRL.
> 
> That being said, I would like to thank everyone who has read this fic, and even more so to the people who left Kudos and/or reviewed. You guys are awesome! ^o^
> 
> Please, continue to red till the end, and also check out my other works if you are into Harry Potter, Marvel, and/or Arowverse fics!


	17. Obituary: Serenity.

It was sunrise when Kakashi woke. He found this alone, suspicious. Normally, he was awake well before dawn. He took a moment to attempt to sense any intruders, and gasped when he felt a familiar presence in his kitchen. Now in haste, he rose quickly, and made his way there so fast it was almost a Shushin.

When he laid eyes on Naruto, however, he almost tensed at the changes.

Oh, he had been told by Sakura the day before, when she and Sa- Noctis had been assigned the mission to find him. And he could see the changes in color and the horn on his left easily from his back.

“Finally awake, Koinu?” the arguably younger of the two said, before turning away from the rice balls he was making for breakfast.

Kakashi, even while approaching the younger male, thought, _‘His eyes are different again.’_

And indeed, now Naruto’s eyes were simply much more than before. His iris was a dull charcoal grey color, and his sclera just a couple of shades lighter enough to distinguish between the two. Bypassing the boundaries, six concentric bright white circles were visible, as if rippling out from his pupil, bearing three tomoe each at various angles. The outline of a six-petal samsara flower was glowing at a muted pace behind it all.

When he stood in front of the boy, Kakashi raised his hand to cup his cheek, absently noticing a difference in sensation… ah, he had gotten thinner.

“I missed you.” He spoke, with a warm smile, that then transformed into a really fear-inducing sweet one. “If you ever not tell me where you’re going again, I’ll kill you.”

Everyone in Konoha felt the sudden urge to shiver, but ignored it and moved on with their lives.

Naruto chuckled lightly. “I apologize, Koinu. It was not my attention to distress you.” He then laid a soft kiss on the man’s lips and made to pull away, only to be drawn into a fiercer one when Kakashi wrapped his hands around Naruto’s waist. He then opened his eyes when he pulled away to-

Wait.

“Ah.” Naruto breathed, gazing at his eyes. “I never knew someone’s black eyes could be this beautiful.”

Kakashi was stunned. He… he was looking out of both his eyes, without the reddish tint of the Sharingan! But… He channeled chakra into his eyes and felt not one, but both morph into the familiar feel of his Sharingan, and then his Mangekyou.

How was this possible?

“In my battle against Akatsuki, I came across the bearer of a Sharingan.” Naruto spoke, in a nervous way of explanation. Perhaps a transplantation without consent was too far? Wait… he could spin this without Kotoamatsukami. “When I defeated him, I noted the energy signature of his eye to be identical to yours. This enraged me, because I am aware that this eye is the last memento you possess of your departed best friend. So I took it from the graverobber’s socket, and since it was rapidly deteriorating for some reason, transplanted it into yours to save it. I apologize, I should have asked for-“

He was silenced by a finger on his lips.

“This… this is the greatest gift you have given me, Naruto. Thank you.” Kakashi breathed, too stunned to speak properly. However, his voice returned when something Naruto spoke registered. “Wait, Akatsuki? Did you singlehandedly fight Akatsuki?”

“Singlehandedly won against all of Akatsuki.” Naruto corrected smugly, sighing and resting the right side of his head on Kakashi’s chest. “That, I admit, was fun.”

“But… but… they’re all S-rank criminals!” Kakashi exclaimed, hands tightening around his little white-haired menace.

“You forget, my Koinu,” Naruto whispered, then stepped away playfully, “I am a God.”

 

***

 

“Let me get this straight, brat.” Jiraiya of the Sannin muttered, rubbing his hands with his eyes in frustration. “You’re saying that you defeated all of Akatsuki by yourself?! Even with the Fuuinkusari, catching a ninja of their caliber off guard is next to impossible!”

“I could play the memories for you, if you wish.” Naruto offered with a wide smile, subtly using Kotoamatsukami to ensure the people present would not. However, he didn’t account for two people – Sakura and Noctis. After all, their energies not being chakra, the genjutsu would just slide off, not even applying to them. “My talents are far beyond your comprehension.”

Tsunade, well onto her second bottle of sake since Naruto first started speaking, snorted. “What, did one of the Akatsuki have a god-complex?”

“As a matter of fact, he did.” Naruto mused. “Nagato slipped into that mindset when Yahiko passed. I am thankful, however, because that meant-“

“Wait. Nagato? Yahiko? Was there a blue-haired girl called Konan with them too?” Jiraiya demanded, suddenly in front of Naruto from where he was behind Tsunade’s desk just a minisecond ago.

Rather than Naruto adopting a threatening pose, however, the man suddenly found two blades at his throat – one made of some gleaming blue energy while the other was a strange looking sword seemingly made entirely of silver with gold inscriptions on it.

“I would prefer if you do not surprise me, Jiraiya.” Naruto grinned. Noctis’ and Sakura’s aid was most welcome – it showed solidarity… and the two were the only beings in this dimension who could challenge him, surely. They quickly drew back their arms but both were left internally questioning themselves. “But to answer your question, yes. It is indeed your three pupils who founded the organization of Akatsuki in the first place. Granted, that they had been manipulated from the shadows once Nagato’s legs were damaged beyond all help and he had to resort to using corpses imbued with his chakra to exert his will, however they were the three who spurned its creation and held fast. Both the organization and the members themselves had to change to keep from being trampled under the influx of new beliefs and evidence to the fact that their dream of eternal peace was unreachable due to the very nature of man that they subconsciously resigned to be livingly tried to ignore.”

Jiraiya wordlessly appeared back behind Tsunade’s desk and frowned.

Silence reigned in the room while its occupants pondered the idea that Naruto was more than capable of defeating ten S-rank nukenin with ease.

“The payment for eleven S-ranked missions will be deposited into your shinobi account as recompense.” Tsunade finally spoke. “Naruto-kun, know that the entirety of the Shinobi countries owes you for what you have accomplished. While the Akatsuki may have started out as a positive force, before they were dealt with they were actually the cause of tension in multiple villages, both internally and between.”

“I couldn’t agree more.” Smiled Naruto. Of course, the only part he agreed with was that the world owed him.

“This brings us to why we needed Team 7 immediately. It is confirmed that Kumo, Sun, Iwa, and Oto have been conspiring to launch an invasion of Konoha on the day of the chuunin exam finals. You have been promoted to Jounin in absentia – you three have a single mission – destroy the opposition.” Tsunade spoke, voice clear and filled with confidence. If Naruto could take down Akatsuki… this would be a walk in the park for him.

“Of course, Hokage-sama.” Naruto bowed his head minutely. No matter how much it incensed him, he had to keep up the charade to break it at the moment it would grant maixmum satisfaction. “I shall set out at once.”

“I’m afraid that wouldn’t be wise.” Jiraiya spoke up. “While Otogakure no Sato is an unknown, we have treaties, however superficial, with the other three members of the Great Five – we are honor bound not to overstep our rights.”

Sakura shook her head in disapproval. “We are _ninja_ , not Samurai; what use have we of honor? Iwa has a long-standing rivalry with us after the Yondaime single handedly took down most of its shinobi force, Kumo has been bitter since their failed theft of the Byakugan, and everybody hates Suna. I am assured that each of us alone are enough to take down one of each by ourselves – why do we stall?”

“This is an order.” Tsunade sighed. “You are not to attack the other three great villages. We may be ninja, but we are still human.”

“ _We_ aren’t.” Noctis corrected them in his otherworldly double timber voice. “I am an Astral.”

“I am an Immortal.” Sakura piped in.

“And I am a God.” Naruto proclaimed. “We have breached the higher walls of evolution and torn it down – why are we bound by laws of humans?”

Jiraiya and Tsunade shared a _look_. Kakashi simply rolled his eyes but kept silent.

“Be that as it may,” Tsunade carefully ventured, “you three are still ninja of Konohagakure, and I am its Kage. Therefore, my word is law.”

Naruto sighed. “As you wish, Hokage- _sama_. Nevertheless, waiting and doing nothing would be suicide. What of this Otogakure? Perhaps we can deal with it, if that is _to your preference_?”

His subtle mockery of Tsunade did not go unnoticed by anyone in the room, including the four Hokage-duty ANBU who were on the ceiling.

“That is acceptable.” Tsunade nodded tensely. “Additionally, you may also prepare the village itself for the invasion, if any of you three have talents in defenses.”

“Have the items we delivered been analyzed?” Sakura asked, examining her nails. She was indeed, utterly bored with this meeting. It was like dangling a juicy bone in front of a hungry dog and then prohibiting it from eating it.

“Our teams have already broken down all the technology.” Tsunade agreed. “Our ninja now carry far better communication gear than before, and silenced guns and rifles have started to gain popularity amongst ninja who are jacks of all trades but masters of none. However, when I comes to transport, our Doton teams have yet to expand the village proper to account for concrete roads. Cars also seem to be a long-term investment – while we can and already have found substitutes for petrol, creating the machinery themselves take time without proper implements.”

“I can help with the roads.” Sakura sighed. “Expansion spells and a few basic earth element spells should be enough for the job.”

“I believe I can aid in setting up factories and the like, and utilize time based magic to hasten production.”

“Then you two will be reassigned to work with our Doton and research teams to ensure they are successful.” Tsunade smiled. “Having all of this… it would ensure that we can be the first and foremost when it comes to matters of this regard. We’d be the most advanced village in the world.”

“Then I will go to Otogakure no Sato and deal with the shinobi there. There will be nothing left when I am done.” Naruto promised. This could actually work out in his favor – he’d levelled Ame already, of course, since his Mokuton had killed everyone present and covered everything but the God Tower in gigantic trees. Maybe he’d try something else this time… Shinra Tensei? No… knowing him he’d overpower it and kill everyone on the spot. How about… yes… that should work.

Easy is boring, after all.

After the three of them were dismissed, they did not part ways. Instead, Kakashi, Sakura and Noctis accompanied Naruto as he leisurely walked back to his apartment. Once they did arrive, Naruto got busy making lunch.

“We’ve come so far… all of us.”  Sakura muttered, absently fidgeting with one of the runes she inscribed on her tessen. “Yet, in some ways, we are still the three children who worked with each other yet couldn’t quite fit in.”

“People change. But the change doesn’t always have to be drastic or noticeable – sometimes, people change so little they appear not to have changed at all.” Replied Naruto.

“You’re one to talk.” Noctis grumbled, getting weak chuckles from the rest of them.

“How about… yes… how about we reintroduce ourselves?” Kakashi pondered. “We did do it before, after all, when you three returned from your respective ‘journeys’.”

“That sounds fun.” Sakura smiled softly. “My name is Sakura Haruno, known as the Pink Terror of Fiore. My likes are doing fun things, and I dislike having nothing to do or being bored. My hobbies include flying, cleaning, and learning new magic. My dream for the future is to revitalize my universe… even if it restarts from the beginning.”

“My name is Noctis Lucis Caelum, titled Chief Bahamut.” Noctis spoke next. “I like weapons, and dislike the concept of love. My hobbies include conversing with Ifrit and Shiva, simply because they keep bickering back and forth which is amusing, or learning more about the true history of my dimension from Ramuh. My dream for the future is to find a way to change the Astral Plane so that it is not simply an amalgamation of energy.”

“My name is Hatake Kakashi, also known as Sharingan no Kakashi or simply Inu from my ANBU days.” Kakashi spoke next, surprising the three of them, although his eyes were on Naruto. “I like Icha Icha, love Naruto, and dislike having memories of the past which I cannot get over. My hobbies include practicing jutsu, and looking at Naruto. My dream for the future… I haven’t decided yet.”

All three gazes turned to Naruto, ho put down the spoon he was stirring the soup with and turned around. “What I have to say may not endear you to me. The three of you have been honest, and the courtesy that I can extend is to be the same. If you do not truly wish to hear me speak, which may cause us to turn on each other, say so.”

Sakura smirked. “Naruto, I think the three of us know you well enough to already know what you want to do. Just finish the formality.”

Naruto shook his head. “Fine. My name is Uzumaki Naruto, Leader of the Espada, Phoenix King, Destroyer of the Earth Kingdom and Conqueror of the Southern Water Tribe. I like finishing my objectives, dislike hinderances, and hate Konohagakure no Sato.” At this, Kakashi and Sakura reared back in surprise, while Noctis smirked. “My hobbies include assimilating new people, and ruling over others. My dream… I suppose it has been my lifelong dream, buried under the weight of involuntary memory seals and a last-ditch desire to be accepted… my dream is to utterly destroy Konoha, watching the faces of despair the inhabitants wear as I do so. I will bring them off their high pedestal and air their dirty laundry to the world… and maybe eventually destroy that too. Then, when this universe is in shattered pieces, I will depart to another, which has promise of far more.”

“You can travel to another Universe? Even after being bound to two of your own?” Noctis asked, ignoring the other two who were perfect impressions of gaping fish.

Naruto nodded. “I have in my possession a contract that allows me this… although I have not signed it yet.”

“I would like to ally myself with you.” Noctis said, standing. Sakura’s head whipped to him so fast Naruto feared it would snap. “Chief Bahamut had dominion over light itself – he knew of whatever it touched, even beyond the meager confines of his dimension. I have witnessed your life from birth to now, and know of your past. While I do not believe destroying the village will grant you fulfillment, and I speak from experience, I will not get in the way of your revenge.”

“From experience?” Naruto prodded, intrigued.

“Yes.” Noctis spoke, walking to the window. “Noctis Lucis Caelum was born to be a prince. His father, King Regis Lucis Caelum, was a kind man who valued his kingdom. He was the first in a long, long time to reclaim all the Weapons of Old. If he claimed all of the weapons, then he could access Armiger, the power I used to defeat Leviathan, Ardyn, followed by Orochimaru and Chief Bahamut. The question is, if Armiger really does grant me such power that I do not even need to lower myself to walking, why did he not use it to subjugate the Imperial forces when they invaded? Why trust the despicable enemy, who have been at odds with us for ages, to play fair when we invite them? If the weapons of old were my goal why did Cor not tell me where they are rather than lead me on a tiring chase in an effort to ‘gauge my deservingness’? There are so many points that I can keep listing, but it would take me hours. In order to simply skip the drama, I will give you the answer: prophecy.”

Naruto sighed, knowing how this would go.

“I was cultivated to be the enactor of the prophecy. My chamberlain, Ignis Scienta, was a plant by my own father who purposely created several obstacles for me even when I was young to instill a drive in me. My best friend, Prompto Argentum, was a converted pan of the enemy who was literally cultivated in order for me to eventually prove to my father if I could carry out the right thing. Even… even Gladiolus, my love, was hired for this very purpose. Although his family served as the King’s personal shield for generations, he in particular was hired when my father correctly guessed my tendencies towards the same sex, otherwise, I was supposed to rule without a Shield at my side to increase my battle awareness.

“They had their regretful moments, of course… at least those who knew it did. My father knew what was coming the day of the invasion, and perhaps, for the first time in his life, spoke to me from his heart when I left the Royal Palace. Ignis cracked when he lost his eyesight, relating his blindness to my being manipulated all along. Prompto knew naught, but our bond grew stronger when we accepted him even though his past was revealed to us. And Gladio… I guess he was the one who was always mine.”

A single tear made its ways down the side of Noctis’ face, and Naruto quirked an eyebrow when he saw it was crystal.

“When I returned there after my takeover of the Astral Realm, Insomnia rejoiced to see their king back since they thought me dead.” Noctis smiled wistfully. “When I raced to find Gladio… it was to find him dead, and Prompto crying by his corpse. It turned out that Ignis confessed the manipulations of my father to the others, and they felt responsible even though they did nothing, not truly. Gladio committed suicide in order to reunite with me, Ignis had long since departed to face the Adamantoise – a gigantic earth-elemental turtle who can never truly die – alone, in a bid to die with purpose after serving a well-intentioned man who went wrong in several ways for too long. Prompto waited for me to explain, to apologize, to say that he had no part in it all.”

Naruto walked forward and put a hand on Noctis’ shoulder, offering support. Sakura herself came forwards and took his hand in hers, while Kakashi remained behind, yet the air was permeated in an aura of support.

“I killed him first.”

They could almost feel Kakashi flinch in surprise.

“I told him that I accepted his apology and forgave him, then ran my Engine Blade straight through his heart. Then I went into my newly empowered Armiger and wreaked havoc in the capital. I razed all the buildings to the ground and slashed through every heart. Even then, I felt… hollow. Now…” Noctis turned to look at his… comrades(?), “now, I think I have found my purpose again. My human kingdom may have betrayed me, but my Astral realm has not. I can better them, aid them, and ensure that they continue on. I may be immortal, but I do not know how long I can continue to be… me.”

Silence reigned in the small apartment.

“I appreciate your honesty, Noctis.” Naruto squeezed the Astral King’s shoulder. “And I promise to aid you as much as I am able. I ask nothing in return, but for you to step aside for me to carry out my revenge.”

Noctis gave a slow nod. “As I said before, I would ally myself with you, if you would accept me.”

“I do.” Naruto smiled. “I would accept you as my comrade.”

Noctis closed his eyes. “Thank you, Naruto.”

“But wait,” Sakura interjected, eyeing moving from Noctis to Naruto, “I understand why Noctis has taken this stance, but what about you, Naruto-san?”

Naruto studied the two in front of him, then Kakashi behind him, who nodded. Naruto sighed and gestured towards the couch, which was then occupied by the two physically younger people while Naruto remained by the window and Kakashi continued to lean against the kitchen island counter. When all were relatively comfortable, Naruto began to explain.

He began at the very beginning, hen his father, Namikaze Minato, sealed the Kyuubi into him, and followed the events of his lives. He brushed upon his motions the most, his despair, his anguish, and laid it all bare for the other three to see. He pointed out the atrocities Hiruzen attempted to hide behind memory seals, the betrayal of Iruka that slowly pushed him over the edge, and the affect that absorbing the personalities had on him. He admitted to feigning most pleasant emotions before today except with Kakashi. When he elaborated upon the betrayals and trials he faced on Earth and in HuecoMundo/SoulSociety, he barely touched the surface, something that he ensured they felt themselves. He finally ended his tale with unveiling the corruption he learned of from Danzo and Itachi, and Kurama’s betrayal.

“And that brings me to this moment.” Naruto orated. “Kakashi was, is, and always will be my light, but my revenge comes first. Konohagakure no Sato will burn, and its inhabitants will know fear – this, I have sworn upon my very name.”

Kakashi bowed his head. “I… why didn’t you talk to me? Say anything about how you’re feeling or… just talk?”

Naruto’s eyes softened when they turned to his Koinu. “I have been living mostly on my own since I was very young – I believe the appropriate saying is ‘old habits die hard’?”

Kakashi chuckled weakly. “Yeah, I guess.”

Sakura and Noctis remained silent, knowing that this was a deciding factor. Kakashi inclining himself with Naruto would ensure the white-haired God’s sanity and a life after this… wherever it would be. Turning against him…

Sakura personally would rather it was the former.

“My sensei was once a leader of this very village, Naruto.” Kakashi whispered. “I… I killed my only remaining teammate once to save his legacy. NO matter what he did, or how much I love you, the village will always come first and foremost. Minato-sensei helped me out when I was in the throes of self-depreciation and emotional agony, no matter how well I hid it. I.. I am sorry…”

Naruto sighed and closed his eyes, holding back his sadness behind a wall of mental strength. He would not… could not lose his composure here. He’d successfully faked enoughemotion to lull Noctis to his side… but Kakashi was the only one he’d ever felt anything for. NOo matter how much it hurt…

“It’s alright, Kakashi. I… I understand.” He smiled sadly. “I will not old it against you. In fact, I admire your integrity for siding with your primary convuction.”

Kakashi, meanwhile, turned to leave. “I will not rat you out, Naruto, this much I can offer you. But… I will stand against you the day you come for Konoha. My sense of duty commands it.”

Naruto simply turned away.

“Well… ja ne.” Kakashi waved weakly and shunshined out.

Naruto, meanwhile, took a deep breath and opened his eyes. He guessed he knew somewhere, deep down, that Kakashi was too good to be true. The man was a loyal Konoha dog and….

Nevermind.

“Well, that’s that.” He whispered, weakly.

“Naruto-san…” Sakura trailed. “I… I must also apologize, but I can not watch you destroy so many lives in an immature rage over revenge. I too will side with Konoha even though the Kage is despicable. Rather, I view it as siding with life itse- URK!”

Sakura gurgled on blood as she stared. Noctis stoically watched as Naruto’s fuuinkusari ran straight through Sakura’s throat and then rapidly retracted, drawing with it a rather glowing silhouette. The girl dropped dead as her very soul was drawn in by the Ningendo powered Uzumaki Fuinkusari… not that he knew the details, of course.

“I understand, Sakura-hime.” Naruto growled. “I understand that too.”

 

***

 

Naruto teleported to the outskirts of Otogakure, appearing with little fanfare in the center of a runic circle. Five Kagebunshin appeared next to him with no smoke, and sped off to their tasks.

Otogakure was unusual when it came to the layout of a village. It wasn’t centralized in the conventional sense. There certainly was a main hub that could be counted as the main ‘village’, but tunnels connected the main hub to five other ‘hubs’ almost equal in size. These ‘hubs’ were nothing more than a network of tunnels that crisscrossed each other and bled off into chambers that were single bedrooms. Otogakure housed no families, but nukenin and other bloodline holders Orochimaru had kidnapped. Working off their need for freedom and brainwashing them was what had managed to convert such an irregular population under a single banner.

A noble idea, but it stood in Naruto’s way.

So, it had to be erased.

Naruto suppressed a chuckled as he bit into his thumb and ran through a series of ten handseals ten times in the period of five seconds, then slammed his hand onto the ground. Nothing happened for a portion of a second, but then a circle seemed to shape in front of him, showing not the forest beyond, but a white and black shoji. When the circle was taller than three times Naruto’s height, the shoji slid open, and not ten, but eleven sets of feet walked through.

“Well, this is different.” A serene voice allowed, sounding dull to all but Naruto.

“Ugh. Why grass always wet?” one annoyed voice sounded out.

“I’m sad to see you dislike this place, Grimmjow.” Naruto amusedly said, causing heads to whip to his position. All but Ulquiorra’s, whose gaze lingered over the gigantic gates in the distance.

“Well well, if it isn’t the boss.” Said a pink-haired man, who then smirked. “I’m assuming this isn’t you offering yourself up for experimentation?

“Or even a spar.” A female voice noted.

“Let the boy speak.” A man lazily drawled, causing the girl riding on his shoulders to snarl annoyedly. “Hey, Starrk, don’t stretch your words.”

“You’re troublesome, Lilynette.” Starrk answered, ignoring the mild thwack to his head.

Naruto shook his head. “The lot of you have not changed. In your perspective, how long has it been since we met?”

“About a thousand years, give or take a decade.” Yammy grinned, then jabbed his thumb over to where Ulquiorra stood. “You missed batboy over there oust Aizen.”

Naruto’s eyes widened. His gaze drifted to Ulquiorra, who still wouldn’t look at him. He frowned. “I summoned the ten of you here because I’m feeling lazy today. I want you to slaughter everyone in that village,” he gestured towards Oto, “except a man who will use golden energy to fight you.”

“Gold?” Aaroniero asked, eagerness shining through. Or, at least, Naruto assumed it was Aaroniero, as the Espada tended to wear a different face each time he met the Jinchuuriki.

“Let’s get going, already.” Neriel pouted, and Harry noted her presence with acceptance. Ulquiorra’s ascension as the king of Las Nosches – and thus the ‘Boss Summon’ of the contract by default – would have opened up a spot in the Espada. He noted Grimmjow bore the number 6, And Yammy the number ‘10’, but since the others didn’t show their numbers in obvious places, it was hard to discern. Perhaps she just took the 4th spot that opened up? “Not that I’m not happy to see you, Naruto, but I’m really eager to see even a portion of the world you supposedly come from!”

“This isn’t my village, but I guess you lot can come back with me when I return.” Naruto smiled a small smile. “Alright, let’s get going.” He allowed, and turned to lead the eleven individuals towards the gates, where he could already see a large number of ninja amassing. Likely that his rather large amount of chakra release had attracted attention. He utilized only a quarter of his, but for them it might have been the release of a hundred or so Kage level shinobi.

Almost as one, ten of them vanished into Sonido. Ulquiorra remained, turning to look at the sun through the leaves of tall trees. While in Karakura, the sun felt… strange. Syazelapporo had likened this to the fact that because of the distinct barriers between the realms, being in another was bound to feel strange.

But the sun here… despite being in a forest, it felt better than the one in Karakura ever did.

 

***

 

“I still don’t understand why you won’t let me take the gold.” Aaroniero whined.

Wiping out a village had been laughably easy. Naruto could have easily done it on his own, but hadn’t want to show all his cards in case there was a bingo book operative nearby. Instead, he delegated all but Rasa, the Yondaime Kazekage, and the two who had sprung in to protect him from a death blow, one old puppeteer hag called Lady Chiyo with a very interesting technique, and another old man Ebizo, who had a strong lightning affinity that he used to complete the entire set of basic elemental affinities, to the others. The Espada were disappointed with how easy these ‘ninja’ were to dispose off, especially knowing that their ‘boss’ was from this very nation. However, they had long ago accepted him when he beat them all, and his personality now was certainly an improvement over back then. They didn’t know who this Aang was, but they thanked whatever power lay above that they no longer had a redheaded Ulquiorra walking about.

They were currently walking away from Sunagakure… or at least its ruins. Before the battle, they had planned to visit Naruto’s Konohagakure, but then they were bored out of their mind during the slaughter, so wanted to return home in order to fight someone who was, and Grimmjow is quoted here, ‘faster than a turtle on sleeping pills’. He’d probably let Nnoitra out from his cell again to rumble.

Speaking of the previously 5th Espada, Naruto was satisfied to see that the piece of chakra he’d attempted to implant into Cirucci had taken great effect. But then again, it was probably because of her energy-based nature, even amongst hollows, that allowed her to accept the piece. The woman wore the number proudly on her left breast, something that got Grimmjow a cero for his troubles when he pointed out.

“It’s energy, Aaroniero.” Naruto smirked, looking over his shoulder and at the monument in clear approval. “And besides, what better way is there to tell people to beware of your wrath than writing it in solidified golden energy?”

“Indeed.” Zommari quietly noted. “When one makes such statements, it is best if done in a fashion hard to ignore.”

Harribel hummed under her breath. “If nothing else, we can at least agree these ninja are slightly better from the humans in our on dimension as they seem to be united in a far greater cause. Even the armies we trampled fled in terror when they realized they were overpowered, but yet these…”

“Bah! Who cares? Ants are ants whether they’re a bunch or singled out.” Yammy interrupted, hands behind his head as he stared at the sky.

Since most in the group seemed to agree, Harribel and Naruto simply sighed quietly.

“Well, I thank you for answering my summons.” Naruto said, turning around and offering the group at large a rare smile. “While it would normally pain me to admit how attached I am to Las Nosches, it simply doesn’t because I feel more right there than I ever could in the Elemental Nations. I thank you, Espada, for allowing this world a glimpse of my true nature.”

The group, including Ulquiorra, seemed to blush almost all at once.

“T- that’s okay.” Cirucci stammered out. “But we really should be getting home to wash the stink of slaughter off of us with a good, strong battle.”

That seemed to tone down their blushes somewhat. Naruto knew he was pretending, but it still hurt a little that no one ever appreciated the Espada for keeping the hollows under control. “Very well. I’ll summon you when I return... or better yet, I’ll summon you when there’s a battle back home.”

Cirucci beamed. “Finally getting that revnge?!”

Naruto smiled back, this time a truly sincere one. “Definitely. My journey’s at an end.”

“That’s good and all, boss-man.” Grimmjow grinned. “Will you come back to us when this is done?”

Naruto gazed at Ulquiorra meaningfully. “Is that really up to me?”

The ten of them shifted uncomfortably, nefore simply deciding to away. Rather than use the longer yet more formal Shinigami way through the now forever subdued Dangai, the Espada used the easier Garganta to return.

Well… all except one.

“Are you finally going to break the silence, Ulquiorra?” Naruto mused, eyeing the Vasto Lorde with slight apprehension. He didn’t know how this person in front of him had defeated Aizen but…

“Have you reconsidered my offer?” the man quietly spoke, viridian green orbs boring into Naruto’s own cerulean blue ones. To anyone else, the voice would have sounded dead, but to Naruto, it there was a bit of hope in there as well.

“Ulquiorra…” Naruto trailed, then helplessly shrugged.

The man in question raised a hand to caress Naruto’s cheek.

“My heart belonged to someone else. You know of this.” Naruto whispered.

“’Belonged?’” the Spaniard asked.

Naruto looked away, refusing to speak.

“I had to try.” Ulquiorra whispered in way of explanation. He then simply began to fall backwards into the still open Garganta. “I will be most displeased if you die before we meet next.”

Naruto waited for the Garganta to close, then finally let his breath go.

‘ _Damn, pretending to feel anything for those amazingly adorable monsters is… not so difficult anymore. Hmm… I believe assimilating Aang has had more effects than simply absorbing the near-lost updated knowledge of the Air Nomads too.’_ Naruto sighed, and cracked his fingers. _‘No messing around this time.’_ Naruto thought, a spell circle lighting the ground under his feet as he rubbed his hands in anticipation. _‘Let’s track us down some cursed seals.’_

 

***

 

It was late night when Naruto returned, emerging from his Makyo Hyousho with a smug smile. Kusanagi was strapped to his upper back under his scarf. Tracking every single individual Otogakure ninja with a cursed seal was incredibly difficult, but at least he finally solved his local Sage Chakra problem – Juugo was a most interesting assimilation target. While a part of Naruto did indeed care of how he had been essentially a human guinea pig, unlike Gaara, there was no way to allow or even force both parts of his psyche to merge peacefully – a death was simply more merciful.

Well, now the world was finally and fully rid of Orochimaru. Every single cursed seal recipient was either dead or assimilated, and now there was absolutely no way any individual could use any unsealing jutsu to revive the fragment of his consciousness that the devious bastard has stored in _every single one of the cursed seals_.

‘ _I swear, if he was still alive…’_


	18. The End

The pain was blinding.

All the wounds he had suffered in his life, combined, could not hold a candle to this white hot, searing pain in his body. What was happening? If Kyuubi’s memories were to be believed, the nine bijuu in one host should be combining to form the Juubi. Why was there so much pain?

He screamed, and could barely make sout something shell-like forming a cocoon around him. He feebly reached out, but he only touched smooth shell. Smooth, but strong.

The pain grew to be too much even for him to handle, and he soon lost consciousness.

When his eyes opened, all he saw was darkness and her.

Long hair. That is what first came to his mind when he saw her. Her hair was whiter than moonlight and longer than even her own height, and it flared out around her like a divine half-halo. Her kimono was long, and white, with purple and gold embroidery on the edges of her sleeves and what came to be her ‘collar’. Oh, and she had two Byakugan in her normal eye sockets and a combination of the Rinnegan and Sharingan on her forehead.

“Ootsutsuki Kaguya.” He said, eyeing her warily. Even with all his strength, what he had would be comparing an incomplete puzzle to the picture its based on.

But she didn’t engage him in battle, nor did she show an expression. She simply approached, and lay a  hand on his chest.

“Finally…” she breathed, and he was sure he could see a tear slide down her cheek. “Finally, someone understands.

***

 “Welcome, one and all, to the Chuunin exam finals!”

Genma rolled his eyes at the cheer that went up at this proclamation. Honestly, at this point, the exams left the idea of a ‘replacement for war’ in the dust and regressed to a petty sports show, ninja style. How sad.

“We have a few talented aspiring chuunin to be here today, so let us support them the best we can!”

“Are you lot ready?” he asked, lazily rolling a senbon with his tongue and not letting his trepidation show. Being so close to the actual combat, the Hokage had deemed it necessary to inform him of what would happen. He wasn’t sure if a single Team was enough to stem the invasion, but… who was he to judge?

“Hai.” Was the general response or sentiment.

He scanned the line up. Subaku no Temari, Hyuuga Neji, Rock Lee, Uchi… um… Caelum Noctis (?), Uzumaki Naruto (whose eyes were creeping him the fuck out), and Subaku no Kankuro. Where was Haruno Sakura?

“Very well. Everyone except Subaku no Kankuro and Subaku no Temari please vacate the arena.” The proctor nodded.

“Um, proctor, I forfeit.” Kankuro said, raising his hand.

Genma levelled an annoyed look at the Suna Genin. “Very well. Winner by forfeit, Temari!”

There was a general disquieted murmur amongst those gathered. Genma didn’t blame them. The civilians probably arrived seeking a good show and were disappointed at the lack thereof. And the ninja, him included, were disappointed at the boy’s conduct. Familial bonds should be shelved at home – on the field, where even your mother could end up traitor and attempt to kill you, hesitation has no place.

“Everyone except Hyuuga Neji and Roku Lee please vacate the arena.” He drawled, and watched with an utterly bored façade as the remaining participants followed his instructions.

He looked between the stoic Hyuuga and the eager Lee, and prayed to Kami the invasion wouldn’t start during this match.

 

***

 

“That was the shortest match I’ve ever seen.” One Terumi Mei remarked, chin resting on her right fist from her throne-like chair.

“It’s certainly… out of the norm.” Tsunade allowed, sharing an amused look with thee only other female Kage present. When she was informed of the current friendly relationship between Konoha and Mizu, she was the one to propose to extend an offer to observe the finals. Not only would this allow the two Kage to meet face to face under the guise of a friendly invitation, but there woud also be a witness to the invasion that wasn’t a part of either side – a neutral party to later bolster her efforts for demanding recompense.

“Kankuro may be brash, but he appreciates family.” The Kazekage, Raza, spoke from his own seat on her other side. Behind him, Chiyo and Baki traded a wry look. “Even though he may not show it at times, he loves Temari dearly.”

“I see.” Tsunade noted, eyeing the male. She absently wondered if he had done his research before deciding to go through with his plans today, and if he did, just how much of an idiot he was… she knew everything within Hi no Kuni – did he really think she wasn’t aware of the army barely into the borders? Even under their best tactics and jutsu, they couldn’t fool Jiraiya or the Byakugan… they simply had to know that such a thing would have easily been reported even if she wasn’t aware of it beforehand… right?

“Ah. A Hyuuga.” Mei said, sighing a small sigh.

“Is something the matter, Mizukage-dono?” Tsunade asked, a small concerned frown on her face.

Said woman shook her head. “Not at all. I was just reminded of a dear comrade of mine who I haven’t seen hide or hair of in a while. Let us watch this match closely.”

***

‘Naruto’ hovered high above Iwagakure with an expressionless visage as he gazed upon the village below. The Kagebunshin knew that the ninja village needed to be wiped out completely if peace was ever going to be achieved, but he wondered if the young ones deserved death. Or the civilians. But he couldn’t chance someone escaping with the ideals he was attempting to erase, and with most of the village’s ninja ini HI no Kuni and none on missions, it would be far easier to simply wipe the whole place out in one fell swoop. He could deal with the stragglers later.

“Shinra Tensei.”

***

“Dual knockout. Both combatants are disqualified.” Genma called out.

It was certainly a match worth watching. A prodigy in the Jyuuken versus a prodigy of Goken… no matter how perfect your defence is, it doesn’t matter at all if you are not fast enough to put it up, however. Noctis mused, for a moment, whether or not opening the Hachimon would allow someone to keep up with him. His warping techniques were far faster and not at all taxing after he defeated Bahamut, not to mention he didn’t need a weapon in place to warp anymore. The world was literally his playground. His magic had grown stronger too… Perhaps-

“Will Uzumaki Naruto and Caelum Noctis please make their way to the arena?”

He paused, and gave his comrade a sidelong glance, receiving a nod in return. He sighed. “And I was just beginning to think of something, too.” He noticed the only other participant shudder a bit at his tone of voice and smirked in amusement.

“We will have all the time in the world to think after today, Noctis.” Naruto commented, and the King of the Astrals mentally agreed. They would cleanse this world and sow new seeds of life, then depart to their own.

He blinked, and he was in front of Genma. Naruto blurred in a moment later.

“Are the two of you ready?” the blonde asked, eyed darting between the two immortals.

Naruto looked at him for a moment, then looked off into the distance. Noctis turned to see… a massive pillar of lightning shoot down from a clear sky. If he could see it from this distance, it had to have been truly monstrous in size.

“Now we are.” Naruto smiled, and in that moment, Noctis knew that all the clones Naruto had sent out probably had finished their tasks.

“Hajime!” he intoned and leapt backwards.

Noctis looked at Naruto as red motes of magic began to appear in the air of the arena. “Shall we begin, Naruto?”

Naruto looked up, and smiled. “Yes. You never mentioned Ramuh looks a lot like Hiruzen with fewer winkles and a longer beard.”

Noctis rolled his eyes as Armiger materialized around him and he began to hover. “Let us simply be done with this. I wish to return as soon as possible.”

“Alright, then.” Naruto sighed, and flicked his hand at the same time the now fully materialized Ramuh raised his staff.

All hell broke lose.

***

Jiraiya smirked when he saw the lightning in the distance, and drew special pleasure fom the slack-jawed expression on Rasa’s face. The bastard was a horrible human being, he knew, and delighted in his misfortune.

He was just about to comment when a toad appeared in front of him in a poof of smoke.

“Jiraiya!” the small toad spoke, sounding harried. “Yugakure was just destroyed!”

Wait… what?

Another poof of smoke heralded the arrival of another toad. “Jiraiya-sama, Ishigakure was just crushed under a tremendous force!”

Another. “Hey, pervert! Hoshigakure was just pulled into the sky and flattened into a meteor! I don’t think anyone’s survived in there!”

And yet another, “Jiraiya-boy-“

“What in the world is going on?!” Tsunade finally broke in. She whirled in on the latest arrival. “Please tell us anything you can.”

“I’m not sure what exactly destroyed Kirigakure, but… wait. I can feel the same energy signature right here!”

The Mizukage, who went deathly still, suddenly stood. “From where? From whom?!”

“From the boy in white!” the toad yelled, pointing down at Naruto.

Whatever Mei was going to say was cut off as the red sparkles of light around Noctis vanished, and a gigantic man appeared high in the sky. He looked… ancient, as if he had seen many an age pass by. Garbed in a long tattered blue robe and holding a large wooden staff, the man looked more foreboding than anything Mei had ever seen.

“What-“

BOOM!

The arena exploded in lightning and stange energy. The blast was so strong that the walls itself, as well as any structure within a few hundred meters or so, crumbled to powder. Smoke and dust rose into the air amidst cursed silence, and Jiraiya could barely see. All he could feel was pain, which he shoved aside with a pure force of will and extricated himself from the rubble he was under.

He was in a crater.

***

Naruto smiled as he gazed upon the destruction. Finally, this world would know peace. He would raze it to the ground, and raise something new in its place. And, if he coerced some satisfaction from the obliteration of this particular village, well, then that was just onderful, wasn’t it?

He waved his hand, and in eleven poofs of smoke, the Espada materialzed.

“Boss?” Grimmjow asked, startled. He looked around himself, then grinned.

Harribel seemed to share his sentiment when she spoke, “So, the time of your vengeance is truly nigh.”

“What is your bidding?” Ulquiorra asked, tilting his head.

“Kill everyone alive in this world. But leave the citizens of this village to me.” Naruto ordered, nd begin to hover. “I will see to them personally.”

With a burst of static sound, the eleven Espada vanished.

“Naruto. You have enough help here.” Noctis stated from a few feet above him. “I will open the doors to the Astral realm from the other side and funnel the clean souls through, to be reborn as citizens of my own dimension. Peace and prosperity to you. I hope our paths do not cross again.”

Naruto nodded, smiling a sad smile. “Peace and prosperity to you too, Noctis.”

And with that, both Ramuh and Noctis vanished. However, where Ramuh hovered, a rip in the very space itself seemed to form. White light began to shoot towards it nd disappear within from far and wide.

“Uzumaki Naruto!”

Naruto turned his body mid-air to gaze upon the assortment of ninja below. Rasa, Chiyo, Baki, Tsunade, Jiraiya, Shikaku, Mei, Chojuro, and who he recalled as Suicune from Ao’s memories, all were on the ground before him, looking slightly battered and brused, but none the worse for wear. Of course, ninja would find themselves only shaken, stunned, or injured from the debris due ot their resilience and their chakra networks… the civilians in a large radius were probably vaporized.

“Ah, my fellow ninja.” Naruto smiled. “Welcome. Welcome, to your end.”

“Why, Naruto?” Jiraiya demanded, looking distraught. “Why would you do something like this?”

“My reasons are something you would not comprehend, ‘godfather’.” Naruto spat. “It is fitting, however, that you would be beside my godmother in her final hours.”

“Na… ruto?” Tsunade whispered, eyes wide. “You knew…”

“That my mother trusted me to your care, and my father did the same to Jiraiya?” Naruto scoffed, raising his hand. “Of course. I know a lot of things, and not all of which I wish to disclose.”

The ground began to rumble beneath the feet of the assembled ninja.

“Taste despair.” Naruto intoned, and the ground burst into trees.

“Dynamic Entry!”

Naruto blocked the kick with his pinky finger. “Ah. Maito Guy. I assume Kakashi told you of my plans beforehand… a pity you will have to die as well.”

A Fuuinkusari shot out from the man’s head, having travelled the length of his body from Naruto’s palm, and rapidly retracted.

“The Hachimon… pathetic.”

“Senpou: Katon: Gamayu Endan!”

A spray of flame suddenly flew at Naruto from a gap between the trees, which he turned aside with a wave of his hand. “Oh, godfather, you simply must try harder. I am finding myself most unamused with your caliber.”

“Try this on for caliber!” yelled a female voice as Tsunade shot into the air, fist cocked back.

Naruto did not even bother to look at her as a lance of wood materialized in the air on his right and was launched at her, piercing her with ease and lodging itself in her heart. It then exploded into branches of black, which were now coated in blood and innards as she was drilled apart.

“Tsunade!” Jiraiya despaired, voice clearly in anguish. He suddenly appeared on top of the highest tree in the arena. “You will pay for that, Naruto!”

Naruto smiled instead. “Yes… come, godfather. Try to explain yourself to your most cherished child.” He then gestured with his hand.

On his left, a figure seemed to form out of the air. It was a translucent white, signifying a ghostly origin. When the haze finally solidified, Jiraiya wished he simply hadn’t woken up that morning.

“Minato?”

 

***

 

“Ah, Ohnoki, you are boring me.”

Ryutenbin no Ohnoki, the Sandaime Tsuchikage of Iwagakure, panted in exhaustion from where he was perched on the Yondaime Raikage, Ay’s, back. The two had tried a combination attack in order to bolster their offensive power, but it seemed for naught. The infuriating brat had not even moved from the spot he was hovering in midair.

“If I knew you were so slow, Raikage, I would have asked one of my summons to take care of you.” The boy sighed, then perked up. “Now that I think of it, I still can.” He then snapped his fingers.

In a poof of smoke, a man seemed to materialize next to him. He had strange purplish-white hair, and deathly pale skin, that seemed to be stretched far too much over his bones, as they were prominent. His eyes were closed to near slits, and a permanent smile seemed to be etched on his face.

“Ah, Naruto-sama!” he squealed, and seemed to … glomp … the child. “It has been so long! I was wondering if you would ever call on poor old me for assistance.

“Now now, Gin.” Naruto sighed, unmoving as he valiantly bore the older man’s fussiness. “I have called you here for a reason. I want you to take care of some trash.”

Said man simply gave the men and women before hima gaze from his position around Naruto’s shoulders. The gaze was anything but cheerful – it spoke of a hidden strength that few could possibly match. “As you wish, Naruto-sama.” He said, and pointed what looked like a knife at them. “Shoot them, Shinshou.”

***

“This show is getting old.” The real Naruto muttered to himself from where he hung in the air, examining his nails. “My vengeance … doesn’t feel very fulfilling. Oh well, at least this world will see new life. Hmm…”

His eyes drifted across the battlefield, eyeing every skirmish with a detached gaze. “Or should it? Life will inevitably rebel against itself. Why raise that question again and again? Now plants – theyre far more docile…. Yes. I should cover the world in a single, vast forest, and let Naturl selection handle everything else.”

He didn’t so much as twitch when a tear in space and time appeared next to him and Ulquiorra managed to appear from its confines. “Will you be returning with us once you are finished here?”

Naruto yawned. “I think I already am. I think my anger towards my father was far more… real than my desire for vengeance. I just feel… nothing.”

“You find yourself unfulfilled?” he asked, head tilted.

“Yes.” Naruto agreed, sighing. “I envisioined a grand speech. Maybe a great battle with all the of shinobi of the Elemental Nations against me alone, or something of the sort. Or maybe some sort of ancient evil that I awoke and would have to battle but… it just feels stretchd on, now. I feel… nothing.”

“Oh. Pity. If only you could have another try at living your life.” Ulquiorra sighed.

Naruto’s head snapped to his. “What did you just say?”

The Vasto Lorde let his expression remain unchanged as he answered. “Another try at life – almost all of the mortal souls I have consumed wished for it. But… surely even you can’t-“

“Remember that I took Orihime’s power after you had your way with her.” Naruto reminded him, eyes flitting down to the carnage below him. Oh, Minato killed Jiraiya. How unexpected. Not. “Aizen theorized that he had the power of rejecting reality itself, no? What if I…”

“But… if you rejected reality itself, and the timeline is reset to… whatever it is that you wished, hat would happen to you…?” Ulquiorra asked, curious.

“Only one way to find out, my dear.” Naruto chided him, swiftly creating two clones who used Kamui to warp to opposte sides of the planet. “Let’s try, hm?”

Spreading his arms out, he ended all his summonings and concentrated. What was the moment that everything went out of control? What was the moment that sent the timeline careening into… this?

Was it when the Kyuubi was sealed in him?

Not really. He remembered himself correctly, and he was almost certain that he would have been able to win the hearts of the people… eventually.

Was it some event in his childhood?

One by one, images began to flit past his senses.

Womb.

Cradle.

Pre-school.

Entrance.

Academy.

Graduation.

Graduation…

There was an alien feeling in his memory, of this much he was certain. The taint of foreign chakra…

He used Amenotejikara to escape to another dimension as his two clones directed the negation field between the two of them, encompassing the entirety of the elemental nations… and winding time back. Slowly, but surely. Dead men arose and ran backwards. Kunai and Shuriken flew in reverse back to their owners’ hands. Birds flew opposite, and day returned to night, and then to day again. The days flew by, and the dimensional pathways to other realities were repaired with the wiping of Team 7 journeying through it from history. The bijuu lived again in their hosts long before that. Even the dead lost memory of what had ranspired in the living world.

It all came down to the interference of one man, it seemed.

When both his clones dispersed, he emerged back… into the past. He his from sight with a simple thought, and observed him running through the forest and away from Mizuki with a cold gaze.

He heard chuckling, then, and his eyes widened s he was surprised.

Orochimaru.

Or at least, a Shadow Clone. This... explained everything…

No. Maybe that’s not how it happened… best to be sure.

He watched as the Snake Sage used several jutsu to subtly influence the flow of events. Mizuki charging the Fuuma Shuriken with chakra. The Genjutsu…

He saw everything.

And, boy, was he enraged.

He created another clone, and used the rejection space to reverse time, but only in a localized area this time. He watched himself slowly run backwards and evets rewound themselves, and cracked his knuckles.

“I hope that this hurts.” He said simply, and launched a Fuuinkusari straight through Orochimaru’s clone.

With a soundless scream, the snake sage clone was no more, and the best part – he (that is, the original timeline him) hadn’t even entered the forest yet. Tears of blood fell from his eyes as he smiled softly.

Even though Noctis and he were, for all intents and purposes, out of reality, at least the real him would be… normal. Better than him, at the very least. He sighed and created Amenontejikara to escape. It wa time to finally move on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know what y'all are thinking. "Wow, that ending sucked. What's Legion on?"  
> Do you ever have that feeling that you've started something you really don't want to finish for... god knows what reason?   
> The idea for this story, strangely enough, came to me when I was watching Heroes (the original show). If any of you have seen the show, you probably know which character I was referring to.  
> Then the idea was further stretched when I started reading the Naruto manga and realized how completely stupid he is.  
> Like, he's charming, sure, and his heart is pure, but he has like... little to no sense. Sure, he's a child without any kind of parental guidance at all (and that's another can of worms I really don't want to get into), but he's a goddamned prankster. A PRANKSTER. Do you have any idea how much cunning and know-how it takes to execute a plan? In the manga they try to emphasize that his escapedes have given rise to 'unorthodox tactics' and perseverance, but I felt it was a load of bull, just so that they don't have one of those 'all-powerful and cool' protagonists.  
> Anyway, I'm getting away from the point. Yes, the ending is rushed, and I kinda just sat on my lappy and wrote it right now. I mean, it's been seven months since the last 'chapter' and yes, I'll grovel and bake cookies if y'all forgive me for saying it would take only a month when I've taken... like... seven...  
> Anyway, it just felt like I'd never end up writing the last chapter if I dragged it on any longer, so I did. I know it's probably a disappointment, and I've clearly broken my word, but this was like... the mother of all writer's blocks. Like... seriously.  
> Yeah.  
> So I've decided that if I can't finish any story in the future, I'll just post the outline for what I had planned for the rest of it, at least, and give it up for adoption. My account isn't really popular so if y'all spot a story like that, just holler anyone who you think might be interested, yeah? 
> 
> Anyway, so I'm going to be focusing on Motes of Dust and Over the Hills for a while. I'm writing the former in 'seasons' and 'episodes', so when I'm done with five of those I'll return to If Wishes Were Horses. I've also changed the way I publish chapters so something like this doesn't happen - and honestly, it's worked with Motes od Dust beautifully.
> 
> Anyway, I'm really sorry for the let-down. In recompense, however... I can promise that this is not the last you have seen of Naruto. You'll see him either alongside or against the Inquisitor Yvon Lavellan whose story has been explained in 'Beginning of the End', either fighting with or opposing my Harry Potter from 'Wisps of Desolation'. 
> 
> That's right. Ths whole story (and the other two of them) were just meant to be short ten-chapter and twenty thousand words or so of exposition. With some dialogue.
> 
> But two of them spiralled out of control. I wonder how Wisps of Desolation will turn out...? Stay tuned to find out!

**Author's Note:**

> Please read and review.


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